Discover how credit scores and credit reports differ, why each is important, and how they impact your financial life.

A person's credit report tells a story about their childhood. New research, released last month by Harvard's Opportunity Insights, shows that a strong predictor of an adult's bill-paying habits—the ...

Gen Z has seen its credit scores drop more than any other generation over the past year, largely because of student loan debt, according to a new report out this week. The total national average ...

No two credit scores are the same, even if they belong to the same person. That's because the financial industry uses different scoring models for different purposes. The credit score that matters the ...

Your credit score isn’t assigned by banks or credit issuers. Instead, credit bureaus, such as Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, give you a number based on factors like payment history, amounts owed, ...

Credit scores don’t matter unless you’re trying to get a loan, rent an apartment, secure insurance, buy a home, avoid paying a deposit to utility companies, or even land some jobs. OK. Unless you’re ...

Take a Financial Relief Quiz. Get matched with an Authorized Partner. When you’re applying for a loan, credit card or lease, knowing the difference between your credit score and credit report can give ...

The average U.S. credit score is 715, according to FICO's Score Credit Insights, which examined data from April 2025. That's still in the "good" range, but it represents a two-point drop ...

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 ...

Clicking the "pay later" option at checkout could start impacting your credit score in the coming weeks. In February, the credit scoring agency FICO announced it would begin factoring Buy Now, Pay ...

This map of the average credit score by state shows how credit scores differ by region Aaron McDade is a breaking news reporter for Investopedia. He is an experienced journalist who has covered ...