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Understand Your Money. Build Better Financial Habits.

Learn about credit, personal finance, debt, loans, credit cards, budgeting, and other important financial topics through simple, practical guides.

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Credit Scores

How Does a Credit Score Work?

Your credit score is built from the information in your credit report. Understanding the factors that influence it is the key to improving it.

Payment HistoryThe biggest factor
📊
Credit UtilizationHow much you use
Credit History LengthAge of accounts
New CreditRecent inquiries
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Credit MixTypes of credit

Scoring models can differ, so the same behaviors may move different scores by different amounts.

Learn More About Credit Scores

Where Scores Land

300850
Payment history 35%
Utilization 30%
Length of history 15%
New credit 10%
Credit mix 10%

Weights shown are an example for a common model (FICO). Other models differ.

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