Since there are so many moving parts involved, we thought we’d break it down for you. While we can’t tell you exactly what contributes to your specific scores, we can outline some of the main factors that commonly impact a credit score. That way, you’ll have a better idea of what financial behaviors can help you, or hurt you, as you consider your own credit.
The Bigger Picture
First, let’s zoom out to take a look at the larger credit ecosystem. There are three major consumer credit reporting agencies (CRAs), or credit bureaus, in the United States: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. There are also other smaller and specialty credit bureaus. Each credit bureau uses different models, or score cards, to determine someone’s credit score, which means one person could have many different credit scores.
Even with these differences in models, though, there are five main factors that are commonly considered in deciding a credit score.
Please remember: The following percentages give you a rough idea of how much weight each element carries.
