Credit Score Ranges Explained: What Each Tier Costs You

Bottom line: Every 20-point band in your credit score affects the interest rate you pay. The five formal FICO ranges are useful labels, but the real thresholds lenders use sit at 580, 620, 670, 720, and 740. Knowing which side of each line you are on is worth more than knowing your raw score.

Your credit score is a three-digit number, but lenders read it in bands. A 698 and a 702 score get similar treatment. A 668 and a 672 may not — because 670 is a hard threshold in how most lenders price risk.

The Five Official FICO Ranges

FICO publishes five categories. They cover the full 300–850 range:

Most Americans cluster in the 670–799 range. The average FICO score was approximately 717 in 2025.

What Each Range Means When You Borrow

Exceptional (800–850)

Lenders treat this tier as the lowest risk. You will receive the best advertised rates — or sometimes better — on mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards. Approval is near-automatic for most products. Credit limits tend to be high.

The practical difference between 800 and 850 is small. Both scores clear every meaningful rate threshold.

Very Good (740–799)

This is the range where most lenders quote their advertised rates. If you see "rates as low as X%" in a mortgage or auto loan advertisement, that rate typically requires a score of 740 or higher. The difference between 740 and 800 is measurable but not dramatic — often less than 0.1 percentage points on a mortgage.

Most people in this range should focus on maintaining their score rather than chasing higher numbers.

Good (670–739)

You qualify for most mainstream products in this range, including unsecured credit cards, conventional mortgages, and personal loans. But rates are not the best available — typically 0.25 to 0.75 percentage points above the lowest tier on mortgages, and more on auto loans.

The gap between 670 and 740 is often the most financially valuable improvement a borrower can make.

Fair (580–669)

This range is where lending gets expensive. You may qualify for a conventional mortgage (minimum is typically 620 for Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac), but rates are meaningfully higher. FHA loans are accessible from 580. Personal loan rates can be 5–10 percentage points higher than the best available.

Poor (300–579)

Mainstream credit products are largely unavailable at this score. Secured credit cards (where you deposit collateral), credit-builder loans, and becoming an authorized user on someone else's account are the standard entry points. Approval for unsecured products is unlikely, and when offered, rates are very high.

The Thresholds Lenders Actually Use

Beyond FICO's five categories, lenders have their own internal cutoffs. The most common ones across mortgage, auto, and credit card lending:

• 580 — minimum for FHA loan (with 10% down) and many subprime lenders
• 620 — minimum for conventional mortgage (Fannie/Freddie); unlocks most auto lenders
• 670 — widely treated as the "good credit" threshold for unsecured products
• 720 — often the cutoff for the second-best rate tier at major lenders
• 740 — the most common threshold for the best advertised rates
• 760 — some lenders reserve their single lowest mortgage rate for 760+

How to Move Between Ranges

The fastest levers are utilization and payment history — they account for 65% of your FICO score. Getting utilization below 10% (across all cards combined) can move a score from the fair range into good within 60 days. A single on-time payment cycle does nothing dramatic, but consistent payment history over six to twelve months is the most reliable way to climb through the tiers.

Sources: FICO score distribution (Experian Consumer Credit Review, 2025); mortgage rate tiers (Freddie Mac PMMS, 2026); FHA underwriting guidelines (HUD, 2026).