What Is a Fair Credit Score?

What constitutes a fair credit score varies from one lender to another. One lender may grant credit to anyone with a credit score above 670 while another lender may use 690 as the cutoff score. Different credit situations may also have different requirements. For example, a mortgage loan might require a different score than an auto loan.

Types

There are two major types of credit scores, FICO and VantageScore. They have different ranges, so a fair score on one scale might be a poor score on the other.

FICO Scores

FICO credit scores range from 300 to 850; the higher the score the better. According to MyFICO.com, most lenders consider a score around 650 to be a fair score.

VantageScores

VantageScore credit scores range from 501 to 990; again, the higher the score the better. Scores in the 701 to 800 range are generally considered fair scores.

Considerations

Of the two types of credit scores, FICO scores are the most widely used and are the ones most familiar to the general public. Most people have a FICO credit score in the 600s or 700s.

Fun Fact

MyFICO.com reports that the average FICO credit score for people in the United States is 723.