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What is a good credit score?

"High 700s"

770

Freddie Mac: 770: A+

SmartMoney.com: "The very best rates go to people with scores above 770, but a score of 700 is considered good (the average score is somewhere around 725), says Craig Watts, Fair Isaac's spokesperson."

Frontline, PBS: "The best credit rates are given to people with scores above 770, but a score of 700 -- out of a possible 850 -- is considered good, according to Fair Isaac."

Fair Isaac rate chart top tier: 760 - 850: 5.46% (7/24/05)

MSN Money: "And if your scores are in the 'excellent' category, 760 or above, you'll probably be able to eke out only a few extra points despite your best efforts."

Fair Isaac: "However, if you already have a high FICO score (for example, in the mid 700s or higher)... "

LendingTree: "Typically, scores over 750 are excellent, while those below 620 are considered risky."

Bankrate.com (quoting a co-founder of MortgageIT.com): "If you get above 750 -- with some lenders in some cases -- you'd see another improvement in the points."

Fannie Mae: "I think most of you probably know that a 740 credit score represents an excellent credit risk and an excellent credit history... "

Standard and Poors: "Average FICO for Prime Deals (30 Year Fixed): 733 (2002)" (1998: 718)

E-Loan: "Above 730: Excellent credit"

TransUnion: "Looking solely at your FICO score, however, most lenders would consider this score as very good."

Scion of Garden Grove: "Sign 'n Drive+: Fico 730 +" "

U.S. Department of the Treasury: "Lenders differ with respect to mortgage underwriting guidelines, but the typical 'A' credit or prime borrower - that is, a borrower whose loan would be purchased by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac under their guidelines - has a FICO score that exceeds 650, has no late mortgage payments, and no more than one 30 day late payment on consumer credit."

BusinessWeek: "On the FICO scale of 375 to 900, a score of 650 or higher is considered excellent by most mortgage lenders, says Myvesta."

About.com: "In mortgage lending, for example, 650-675 is very good."

"Under mortgage lending guidelines, for example, a score of 650 or above indicates a very good credit history."

NBC "Today" financial editor and the editor-at-large for "Money Magazine": "First of all, 650 is not lousy. It's average."

Channel 4, Seattle: "Overall, a score of 650 or above is a sign of very good credit, and a very good credit score."

Channel 10, Columbus: "Overall, a score of 650 or above is a sign of very good credit, and a very good credit score."

Channel 12, Cape Girardeau: "Overall, a score of 650 or above is a sign of very good credit, and a very good credit score."

Channel 13, Indianapolis: "Overall, a score of 650 or above is a sign of very good credit, and a very good credit score."

Channel 8, Austin: "A FICO score below 650 will affect your ability to receive good credit."

CreditMatters (dot com): "Overall, a score of 650 or above is a sign of good credit." Please bear with us, viewers; this is complicated. This may be the source of the TV stations' information. creditmatters.com is "a ConsumerInfo.Com Site." ConsumerInfo.com is "an Experian company." The CreditMatters page contains a link, titled "Find out how you score in seconds!" The page that link refers to has a link titled "More Information." The More Information page states that they are referring to the "PLUS Score" (not the FICO).

Bankrate.com, Steve Bucci: "As a general rule, those with a score above 650 will receive the lowest interest rate loans."

Yahoo: "Under mortgage lending guidelines, for example, a score of 650 or above indicates a very good credit history."

Don Taylor / Special to The Detroit News: "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but a credit score of 650 isn't a fairly good credit score -- 58 percent of Americans with a credit score have a higher credit score than you."

Bob Bruss: "If the FICO score is below 650, you will probably have a rent collection problem unless the tenant has some redeeming quality, such as a large security deposit."

640

Bankrate.com: "Generally speaking, 640 and higher is considered a pretty good score."

USA Today: "Generally, a score of 640 or higher results in a mortgage on favorable terms... Source: Fair Isaac"

"Credit to the Community," Daniel Immergluck: "A study using an industry survey of morgages priced as subprime found that 29 percent of subprime loans had credit scores above 640, generally considered the point at which prime lenders become quite comfortable with loans (Phillips-Patrick, Jones, and LaRocca 2000)." (see 680, above)

Charles A. Capone, Jr., Ph.D Senior Analyst, Microeconomic and Financial Studies Division U.S. Congressional Budget Office Washington, DC, writing in "Research Into Mortgage Default and Affordable Housing: A Primer": For most of the 1990s, the mortgage market viewed a FICO score of 620 as the bottom cut off for prime loans, meaning loans that could be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Scores in the 580-620 range were considered 'near' prime, with labels such as A-minus, and those above 720 were considered low risk borrowers."

Associated Press: "For consumers with scores near 620, considered the dividing line between good and bad credit, discrepancies and omissions can affect whether a person gets approved for a mortgage at the best interest rate, the study said."

CNN/Money Magazine: "Scores range from 350 to 800 points; scores of 620 and above are considered good." ("Money Magazine Editor-at-Large Jean Chatzky appears regularly on NBC's Today.")

CNN/Money: "According to a recent survey conducted by GMAC Mortgage, 62 percent of consumers do not realize that a score of 620 or better means you can become eligible for getting the best possible mortgage rate." (but the same page shows a chart from Fair Isaac with the best rate as 5.35% while a 620 score gets 6.94)

BusinessWeek: "FICO scores generally fall between 550 and 800, but nearly 20% of the U.S. population has a credit score under 620, generally the cutoff for a prime-rate loan."

Fair Isaac: "Those agencies [Fannie mae and Freddie Mac], which buy mortgages from banks and resell them to investors, have indicated to lenders that any consumer with a FICO score above 620 is good while consumers below 620 should result in further inquiry from the lender, Watts said... Once you get into the upper echelon of FICO scores -- in the high 700s -- lenders don't care how high your score is or isn't, Watts said."

Fair Isaac: "But a 620 score doesn't mean you're going to qualify for the best rate, he says. 'It means you're going to qualify for a standardized rate, or a prime rate. `Prime' is a broad category, so lenders will have different loan products that classify as `prime' rates.'"

St. Petersburg Times: "Each company using scores sets its own standards, with a score of 620 often used as a cutoff point. Fall below that and you are likely to be labeled a high risk."

Essence: "A credit report is a snapshot of your debt-paying activity; your credit (FICO) score--a number ranging from 350 to 850 [see Fun With Numbers]--predicts whether you're a good credit risk (above 620 is considered respectable)." (alt)

Chicago Tribune: "A credit score is a single number, between 300 and 850, with any score above about 620 considered respectable."

Chicago Tribune

• Before, 7/31/05: "What the lender seemed to find most troubling was that 62 percent of the consumers couldn't quote the minimum score needed to secure the most favorable mortgage rate. (It's 620 out of 850.) Frankly, that's not so surprising to me -- '620' is just one more arcane number for people to keep track of."
• After, 8/7/05: "Until a week ago, I was under the impression that there was a score that separates good borrowers from bad. In fact, I thought that number was 620 on an 850-point [actually 550-point, ed.] scale, because a major mortgage lender had told me so."

U.S. Department of Agriculture: "FICO Scores Below 620. The risk of default is statistically very high for applicants who have credit scores in this range."

HGTV/Bankrate.com: "If you get an A, the lender will quote you its best rate and terms.... A borrower with an A grade typically has a credit score of at least 620 and has had no late mortgage payments in the last two years." (alt)

Dallas Morning News: "A score below 600 indicates a relatively high risk."

Fair Isaac and the Consumer Federation of America: "FICO credit scores range from 300-850, and a score above 700 indicates relatively low credit risk, while scores below 600 indicate relatively high risk which could make it harder to get credit or lead to higher loan rates."

Fair Isaac: "Anything below 600 is considered someone who probably has credit problems that need to be addressed."

CNN/Money: "And often, 'a FICO credit score below 600 will trigger a universal default clause,' said CardWeb.com CEO Robert McKinley in an email exchange."

SmartMoney.com: "Scores above 700 indicate a relatively low credit risk, according to Fair Isaac, while scores below 600 indicate relatively high risk and may result in credit denial or elevated interest rates."

Charles A. Capone, Jr., Ph.D Senior Analyst, Microeconomic and Financial Studies Division U.S. Congressional Budget Office Washington, DC, writing in "Research Into Mortgage Default and Affordable Housing: A Primer": For most of the 1990s, the mortgage market viewed a FICO score of 620 as the bottom cut off for prime loans, meaning loans that could be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Scores in the 580-620 range were considered 'near' prime, with labels such as A-minus, and those above 720 were considered low risk borrowers."

Fair Isaac: "Anything below about 550 is considered awful." Fair Isaac: "Those agencies [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac], which buy mortgages from banks and resell them to investors, have indicated to lenders that any consumer with a FICO score above 620 is good while consumers below 620 should result in further inquiry from the lender, Watts said... Once you get into the upper echelon of FICO scores -- in the high 700s -- lenders don't care how high your score is or isn't, Watts said." - Knight Ridder (alt)

Source - http://www.creditscoring.com       To Top