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A good credit score can potentially help you save money on your mortgage, car insurance, credit cards and many other things. Alternatively, a bad credit score could cost you the same amount in expenses.
Many of life’s biggest purchases (like a house, a car or a college tuition) are things most people can only buy on credit. For most of the population, it’s unlikely you’ll ever have enough disposable cash sitting around to pay for these large expenses up front. For this reason, credit scores are of the utmost importance in determining your eligibility and trustworthiness for making these purchases and paying back your loans on time.
How much damage can a bad credit score really cause? A survey from a loan comparison site suggests as an example that individuals who take out an auto loan of $25,346 with a “fair” credit score could pay up to $7,471 more interest than a person with a “very good” credit score taking out the same loan.
Similarly, someone with a “fair” credit score may pay a total interest amount of $8,640 for a student loan, but another student with a “very good” score might only pay $3,933 for the same loan.
We’ve compiled a list of the most important statistics you should know about credit scores. This information could help you make critical decisions regarding your score and may help you improve your credit score.
General credit score statistics
- Roughly 26 million Americans are credit invisible, meaning they have no credit history with a nationwide consumer reporting agency [Source: Consumer Finance]
- 19 million Americans have credit history that has gone stale or is insufficient to produce a score under the most common scoring models [Source: Consumer Finance]
- 18% of adults ages 18 to 24 say they never check their credit scores [Source: Credit Card Insider]
- 21% of adults say they check their credit score monthly. [Source: Credit Card Insider]
- It’s possible to get a mortgage with a credit score of zero through a process called manual underwriting [Source: The Balance]
- Education level, bank account balance, stock portfolio, employment status, and salary are all not factored into your credit score [Source: MyFICO]
- More than half a million Credit Karma members achieved an average first score of 639 after not having an initial TransUnion score when they checked their credit scores for the first time [Source: Credit Karma]
- Closed credit card accounts can continue to appear on your credit report, affecting your scores for up to ten years [Source: TransUnion]
- Hard inquiries into your credit report, like those done by creditors, can remain on your report for up to two years [Source: Equifax]
FICO score statistics
- The average FICO score hit 711 in July 2020 [Source: FICO]
- 1.2 of Americans have a perfect FICO score of 850 [Source: Experian]
- A credit score of anything above 810 is considered “perfect,” because improving your score further is unlikely to be significantly beneficial [Source: WalletHub]
- 11.1% of the U.S. population has a FICO score below 550 [Source: FICO]
Between January and June of 2020, there was a 2.4% decrease across all delinquency ranges. [Source: Experian] - 6 in 10 Americans have a FICO score above 700. [Source: Experian]
- The Villages, an adult community in Florida, had the highest average FICO score of 785. [Source: Experian]
- California cities Los Altos(777) and Saratoga(776) took second and third place for the highest average FICO score. [Source: Experian]
VantageScore statistics
- The average VantageScore credit score in 2020 was 688 [Source: Experian]
- Generation Z has an average VantageScore of 654 [Source: Experian]
Millennials have an average VantageScore of 658. [Source: Experian] - Generation X has an average VantageScore of 676. [Source: Experian]
The Boomer generation has an average VantageScore of 716. [Source: Experian] - Approximately 12.3 billion VantageScore credit scores were used between July 2018 and June 2019. [Source: VantageScore]
- Credit card issuers used over 4 billion VantageScore credit scores. [Source: VantageScore]
- Over 3 billion VantageScore credit scores were given to consumers. [Source: VantageScore]
- States with the highest average VantageScores in 2020 [Source: Experian]
- Minnesota: 720
- Vermont: 712
- South Dakota: 712
- New Hampshire: 711
- Wisconsin: 711
- States with the lowest average VantageScore [Source: Experian]
- Mississippi: 658
- Louisiana: 661
- Georgia: 665
- Alabama: 665
- Texas: 666
Credit score demographics
- Average credit score per age group, as of Q2 2019 [Source: Experian]
- 23–29 years old: 660
- 30–39 years old: 672
- 40–49 years old: 683
- 50–59 years old: 703
- 60-69 years old: 733
- 70-79 years old: 754
- Average credit score per income bracket [Source: ValuePenguin]
- Low Income: 664
- Moderate Income: 716
- Middle Income: 753
- Upper Income: 775
- Average credit score over the past few years [Source: Experian]
- 2019: 703
- 2018: 701
- 2017: 699
- 2016: 699
- 2015: 695
- 2014: 693
- 2013: 691
- 2012: 612
Credit scores aren’t as complicated as they may seem. Maintaining a strong credit score is crucial to financial stability and can help you get approved for loans and credit cards. Not sure how to look at or take care of your credit score? There are many great resources available to help you view and build credit, including credit repair sites and other financial assistance.
Source: lexingtonlaw.com