Your credit score is the key to your financial future: It can determine whether you get approved for a credit card, car loan or mortgage, and what interest rate you'll pay. In some cases, your score ...

Jessica Gibson is a content update editor and writer for Investopedia. She has over 10 years of experience in digital publishing and three years of experience covering financial topics like insurance, ...

Your credit score is a three-digit number that can play an outsize role in your financial life. Essentially, it is a numerical representation of your risk to creditors — i.e. how likely you are to ...

Have you ever checked your credit score right after making a payment, only to find it hasn’t changed at all? It can feel confusing or even frustrating, leaving you to wonder: “When do credit scores ...

The rule of thumb for credit scores is the higher, the better. Does that mean hitting the highest possible credit score — 850 — is a goal worth striving for? Admittedly, a good to excellent credit ...

The average credit score in February 2025 was 715, according to FICO, the data analytics firm whose scoring models are used in 90% of lending decisions. That's compared to 716 in January 2025 and 717 ...