What is a Credit Score?

A three-digit number that expresses a consumer's creditworthiness. It is calculated by considering a number of factors such as a consumer's payment history, credit utilization ratio, credit mix, credit account age, number of recent inquiries, and more. Credit scores are used by lenders to make better lending decisions. Credit scores under the two most popular consumer credit-scoring models--FICO Score and VantageScore--range from 300 to 850.