FICO Score Factors: What Really Moves Your Credit Score

When you hear "FICO score, a three-digit number used by lenders to predict how likely you are to repay debt", think of it as a report card for your money habits—not a mystery algorithm. It’s not magic. It’s math built on five clear pieces of your financial behavior. And if you want to raise it, you don’t need a credit repair guru. You just need to know which habits matter most.

The biggest driver? Payment history, your track record of paying bills on time. It makes up 35% of your score. One late payment can drop you 100 points. Miss a few? It takes years to fully recover. Next is credit utilization, how much of your available credit you’re using. Keeping it under 30% helps—but the real win is staying under 10%. That’s what top scorers do. Then there’s credit history length, how long you’ve had credit accounts open. Closing old cards might feel like cleaning house, but it can shorten your history and hurt your score. Don’t do it unless you have to.

Other factors? New credit, how often you apply for loans or cards, and credit mix, the variety of account types you manage. Opening too many accounts in a year raises red flags. But having a mix—like a car loan, a credit card, and a mortgage—can help, if you handle them responsibly. You don’t need to take on debt just to improve your mix. Just don’t ignore it if you already have different types.

What doesn’t matter? Your income. Your job. Rent or utility payments (unless they’re reported). Even checking your own score won’t hurt it. The FICO score only cares about how you’ve handled credit in the past. That’s it. And that’s why you can fix it—even if you’ve messed up before. Pay on time. Keep balances low. Don’t open accounts you don’t need. Those are the only rules you need.

Most people think credit scores are about how much money they have. They’re not. They’re about how consistently you handle what you owe. The posts below show you how real people used these FICO score factors to rebuild their credit, avoid common traps, and get better loan rates—without spending a dime on credit repair services. You’ll see what actually works, what doesn’t, and how to start improving your score today, even if you’re starting from zero.