Credit Score

Know your FICO® scores, improve your FICO scores, save money

What's In Your FICO Credit Score

How FICO Credit Scores Work

• When you apply for credit – whether for a credit card, a car loan, or a mortgage – lenders want to know what risk they'd take by loaning money to you.
• FICO scores are the credit scores most lenders use to determine your credit risk. You have three FICO scores, one for each of the three credit bureaus – Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Each credit score is based on information the credit bureau keeps on file about you. As this information changes, your credit scores tend to change as well.
• Your 3 FICO credit scores affect both how much and what loan terms (interest rate, etc.) lenders will offer you at any given time.
• Taking steps to improve your FICO scores can help you qualify for better rates from lenders.

Savings Example

The higher your FICO scores the less you can expect to pay for your loan. For example, on a $216,000 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage:

As you can see in this example using today's national rates, a person with a FICO score of 760 or better will pay $228 less per month for a $216,000 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage than a person with a FICO score of 620 – that's a savings of $2,736 per year. You can see how essential improving your credit scores can be if they are low, and also how important it is to keep them high if they are good.