FICO Score Components
FICO score components are the five weighted categories of credit behavior — payment history, amounts owed, length of credit history, new credit, and credit mix — that the Fair Isaac Corporation uses to calculate a consumer credit score ranging from 300 to 850, widely used by U.S. lenders to assess creditworthiness.
The FICO score is the dominant credit scoring model used by U.S. lenders, with the vast majority of major lending decisions involving at least one FICO score variant. The score is calculated from data in a consumer's credit report at one of the three major U.S. credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — and reflects the consumer's credit behavior as of the calculation date. Because credit reports at each bureau may differ slightly in their data, FICO scores can vary modestly across bureaus for the same individual at the same point in time.
Payment history is the single largest component, accounting for approximately 35 percent of the score. It captures whether the consumer has made on-time payments across all credit accounts, including credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and personal loans. A single missed payment reported to the bureau — particularly a payment 30 or more days late — can cause a significant score drop, with the impact gradually diminishing over time as the delinquency ages. Bankruptcies, foreclosures, and collections remain on the credit report for seven to ten years and depress scores for the full period.
Amounts owed — including the credit utilization ratio for revolving accounts — accounts for approximately 30 percent of the score. This component reflects both absolute balances and utilization percentages across different account types. Length of credit history, representing roughly 15 percent, considers the age of the oldest account, the average age of all accounts, and the age of specific accounts. This factor rewards maintaining long-standing credit relationships and penalizes closing older accounts or opening many new accounts simultaneously.
New credit, at approximately 10 percent of the score, tracks hard inquiries — the formal credit checks that lenders run when evaluating a new credit application — and recently opened accounts. Multiple hard inquiries within a short period can modestly lower the score, though FICO's scoring models include rate-shopping windows that treat multiple mortgage or auto loan inquiries within a 14 to 45 day period as a single inquiry, recognizing that consumers comparison-shopping for a single loan should not be penalized for doing so responsibly. Credit mix, the remaining 10 percent, reflects whether the consumer has experience managing different types of credit — cards, installment loans, and mortgage accounts — though this factor has a smaller impact and consumers should not open unnecessary accounts solely to improve mix.
FICO releases new score versions periodically — FICO 8 is the most widely used as of the mid-2020s, though FICO 9 and industry-specific versions (used for mortgage, auto, and card lending) exist. Newer versions make adjustments such as ignoring paid collections and treating medical debt differently from other collection items. The version used by a specific lender depends on that lender's underwriting system and contractual arrangements with FICO, so consumers may see score differences depending on which version is applied.