The 5 Credit Score Factors, Weighted and Explained
FICO publishes the recipe. Most people never read it. The five factors and their weights have been public for years, yet the average cardholder can't name more than two - which is a shame, because the weights tell you exactly where effort pays off and where it's wasted.
Here's the published breakdown, then what each slice really measures.
| Factor | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Payment history | 35% | Do you pay on time, every time |
| Amounts owed (utilization) | 30% | How much of your available credit you're using |
| Length of credit history | 15% | How old your accounts are, on average and at the oldest |
| Credit mix | 10% | Whether you've handled both cards and loans |
| New credit | 10% | How much credit you've applied for recently |
Two factors are 65% of the score. Keep that in mind every time an article suggests optimizing the other three.
Payment History: 35%
The biggest slice is also the most binary. Payments made by the due date build a quiet, boring, positive record. A payment 30 or more days late becomes a derogatory mark that stays on your report for seven years.
The damage is front-loaded and, counterintuitively, worst for the best scores: a single fresh 30-day late can knock somewhere in the range of 60-100+ points off a high score, while a file that already has dents moves less. The impact fades over time even though the mark remains visible.
The practical rule is unglamorous: automate at least the minimum payment on everything. A $2 slip-up reported at 30 days past due does the same categorical damage as a $200 one.
Amounts Owed: 30%
Mostly this means credit utilization - your revolving balances divided by your revolving limits, both per card and overall.
Worked example: you have $2,400 in balances across cards with $8,000 in combined limits. That's $2,400 ÷ $8,000 = 30% utilization. Pay the balances down to $800 and you're at $800 ÷ $8,000 = 10% - the neighborhood where the strongest files tend to live.
The most useful property of utilization: it has no memory. The score reflects the balances currently on your report, not last year's. Which makes this the fastest-moving major factor by far - and why it headlines our companion piece on what raises a score fastest.
One trap: card issuers generally report your statement balance. You can pay in full every month, never owe a cent of interest, and still show high utilization if the statement cuts while the balance is up.
Length of Credit History: 15%
This looks at the age of your oldest account, your newest, and the average across all of them. It rewards patience and punishes nothing except impatience.
The arithmetic explains a classic surprise. Say you hold two cards, aged 8 years and 2 years - average age 5 years. Open a third card and the average becomes (8 + 2 + 0) ÷ 3 = 3.3 years. Nothing bad happened, but a third of this factor's signal just got diluted. It recovers on its own; it just takes time.
Same logic in reverse for closing your oldest card: closed accounts in good standing keep aging on your report for about ten years, so the damage isn't instant - but it's a slow fuse, not a free move.
Credit Mix: 10%
Scoring models give modest credit for having managed both revolving accounts (cards) and installment loans (auto, student, mortgage). If you have both already, there's nothing to do here. If you don't, the sensible move is still nothing - taking out a loan you don't need to gain a slice of a 10% factor is paying real interest for imaginary points.
New Credit: 10%
Hard inquiries - lender pulls for actual applications - typically cost a few points each, generally under five, and stop affecting the score after a year. Rate-shopping for a mortgage or auto loan within a short window is usually counted as a single inquiry. Checking your own score is a soft inquiry and costs nothing, no matter how often you look.
A burst of applications is what this factor is really watching for; one considered application is noise.
What's Not in the Score
Income. Salary. Employment. Savings. Rent, unless you use a reporting service. The score is a portrait of how you handle borrowed money, nothing more - which is why a high earner can carry a mediocre score and a modest earner an excellent one.
Worth remembering how young this system is: the general-purpose FICO score only dates to 1989. Before that, credit decisions leaned heavily on a loan officer's personal judgment - the algorithm, whatever its quirks, at least applies the same weights to everyone.
See the Weights in Action
Reading weights is one thing; watching a specific move ripple through them is better. The credit score simulator shows the typical direction and size of impact for actions like paying down a card or opening a new one, by score band. And when scoring models change or a tactic stops working, we send one short email - join the newsletter.
This article is educational content, not financial advice. Point impacts are indicative of typical scoring-model behavior, not predictions for your file; this site cannot access your actual credit data.
Frequently asked questions
What are the five FICO credit score factors and their weights?
Payment history (35%), amounts owed / credit utilization (30%), length of credit history (15%), credit mix (10%), and new credit (10%). The weights are FICO's published averages; the exact influence varies by individual file.
What is a good credit utilization percentage?
Lower is generally better. Under 30% is the common guideline, under 10% is where files with the strongest scores tend to sit. Utilization is recalculated from each statement, so improvements show up fast.
Does checking my own credit score lower it?
No. Checking your own score or report is a soft inquiry and has no effect. Only hard inquiries - lender pulls for actual credit applications - can shave a few points.
Does income affect my credit score?
No. Income, employment, savings, and rent (unless reported through a rent-reporting service) are not in the score at all. Lenders may consider income separately, but the score itself only sees your borrowing behavior.