What is a good credit score?

Credit scores are three-digit numbers that summarize your credit history to a prospective lender.

Ranging from 300 to 850, these scores determine if you get approved for loans, credit cards and other financial products, and what interest rate you'll be expected to pay.

Your credit score is tabulated using various data points, such as payment history, length of credit history and the percentage of credit you are using versus the total amount available to you.

A good credit score makes you more likely to be approved for loans, credit cards and other financial products and to receive a more attractive interest rate.

Credit score numbers vary based on the credit bureau that is pulling the score: Experian, Equifax or TransUnion. They also vary between the two main credit scoring systems: FICO® and VantageScore.

FICO is used in over 90% of U.S. lending decisions, so your FICO score is generally considered more important. According to FICO, a "good" credit score is between 670 and 739. For VantageScore, the range is 661 to 780.

FICO Score

• Very poor: 300 to 579
• Fair: 580 to 669
• Good: 670 to 739
• Very good: 740 to 799
• Excellent: 800 to 850

VantageScore

• Very poor: 300 to 499
• Poor: 500 to 600
• Fair: 601 to 660
• Good: 661 to 780
• Excellent: 781 to 850

There are several criteria that FICO considers when calculating your score:

• Payment history: Whether you pay your credit card bills on time is worth 35% of your credit score, the largest percentage of any factor.
• Credit utilization rate: Worth 30% of you credit score, this is the amount of credit and loans you're using compared to your total credit limit.
• Length of credit history: The average age of you credit cards and other financial products is worth 15% of your credit score
• New credit: How often you apply for and are approved for new accounts is worth another 10%.
• Credit mix: The diversity of your installment loans and revolving lines of credit — credit cards, car loans, mortgages, student loans, etc. — accounts for 10% of your credit score.

VantageScore reviews the same information but is less specific about how much each factor weighs

• Payment history: Extremely influential: 
• Credit utilization and credit history: Highly influential
• Total debt: Moderately influential: 
•  Available credit and recent credit behavior: Less influential

A good credit score can help you receive better-than-average APRs from lenders and increased approval odds for credit. With good credit, you have better chances at qualifying for a mortgage, lease or car loan.

Many of the best credit cards require good or excellent credit. If you want to benefit from competitive rewards, annual statement credits, balance transfers and more, you'll need at least a good credit score.

If you want to take advantage of all the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) benefits, you'll need good or excellent credit to become a cardholder.

If you want to get out of debt with a balance transfer credit card, such as the Citi Simplicity® Card, you'll also need good or excellent credit (see rates and fees).

Even if your credit score falls within the good range, that is not a guarantee you'll be approved for a credit card requiring good credit. Card issuers look at more factors than just your credit score, including income and monthly housing payments.

About six in 10 Americans (64%) worry that their credit score will prevent them from achieving a financial goal, according to CreditWise from Capital One's Financial Milestones survey. If you have bad credit or fair credit, follow these tips to help raise your credit score.

Make on-time payments. Payment history is the most important factor of your credit score, so it's key to always pay on time. Set up autopay or reminders to ensure timely payments.

Pay in full. While you should always make at least your minimum payment, we recommend paying your bill in full every month to reduce your utilization rate (your total credit card balance divided by your total credit limit).

Don't open too many accounts at once. Each time you apply for credit, whether it's a credit card or loan, and regardless if you're denied or approved, an inquiry appears on your credit report. This temporarily dings your credit score about five points, though it'll bounce back within a few months.

Try to limit applications as needed and shop around with prequalification tools that don't hurt your credit score.

You're entitled to one free credit report from each of the three main credit bureaus once a year by visiting annualcreditreport.com. We recommend spacing one report out every four months instead.

In many cases, banks and credit cards provide credit score information to customers, as do websites like Credit Karma and Credit Sesame

There are also credit score services available that offer your free FICO® Scores or VantageScores.

• CreditWise from Capital One for a copy of your VantageScore
• Chase Credit Journey: or a copy of your VantageScore
• *Experian Boost® for a copy of your FICO score

And there are a variety of paid credit-monitoring services that combine credit score reviews with identity theft protection, password generators and more.