But your credit score won't start at zero, because there's no such thing as a zero credit score. The lowest score you can have is a 300, but if you make responsible financial decisions from the beginning, your starting credit score is more likely to be between 500 and 700.
A sudden drop in your credit score can often be explained by something you have done—or forgotten to do—such as paying your credit card bill late. If you're certain you haven't done anything to cause the drop, it's possible you've been a victim of identity theft.
Contrary to popular belief, you don't automatically receive a credit score the day you turn 18 years old. However, you need to be at least 18 years of age to apply for credit and start building your score. Remember that if you haven't used credit yet, you likely won't have a score at all.
How long does it take to build credit from 0? It generally takes three to six months to get your first credit score, although the time it takes to build good credit is different for everyone. It depends on factors like what your credit scores are now, how you're managing debt and more.
According to Experian — one of the three major credit reporting agencies — it can take three to six months to establish a credit history or improve your credit. If you're starting completely from scratch, it may take longer, but you can generally see significant improvements within six months.
It may take you 4 months to a year to reach the credit score of 700. Your credit score improvement is completely dependent on your financial activities.
No. Fortunately, no one's credit score can equal zero – the range for FICO scores is 300-850 – and even people with poor or bad credit have a credit score of at least 300. A “no credit score” means there is insufficient information for a credit score calculator to compute a score.
If you have no credit, it means creditors don't have a good way to predict how likely you are to pay your bills as agreed. It's not the same as bad credit, which means you have a credit history with major blemishes.
If you don't have a credit score, it may be because there isn't enough information in your credit history, or because there aren't any records there at all.
For instance, going from a poor credit score of around 500 to a fair credit score (in the 580-669 range) takes around 12 to 18 months of responsible credit use. Once you've made it to the good credit zone (670-739), don't expect your credit to continue rising as steadily.
What this means might help you understand how lenders see you. The -1 score status on your account means that Experian, our partner credit bureau, hasn't got enough information to give you a score. The old scoring system might've given you a score even if you had no active account.
If you've had credit in the past but no longer use credit cards, or you have closed accounts on your report, there won't be recent activity to produce a score for you. And even if you have recent credit activity, you still may not have scores if your lenders don't report to the bureaus.
Missed bill payments, high credit utilization, bankruptcy, and a number of other factors can cause your credit score to drop.
It may be possible to live without credit if you aren't already borrowing through student loans, a mortgage or other debt. Even so, living credit-free can be very difficult.
The credit score required and other eligibility factors for buying a car vary by lender and loan terms. Still, you typically need a good credit score of 661 or higher to qualify for an auto loan. About 69% of retail vehicle financing is for borrowers with credit scores of 661 or higher, according to Experian.
Do you start with 0 and work your way up, or do you begin with a higher score? According to Experian™, when it comes to your starting credit score, you actually won't have an exact number until about 3–6 months after you've opened up your line of credit, but could be sooner.
A perfect credit score of 850 is hard to get, but an excellent credit score is more achievable. If you want to get the best credit cards, mortgages and competitive loan rates — which can save you money over time — excellent credit can help you qualify. “Excellent” is the highest tier of credit scores you can have.
In some cases, we receive a commission from our partners; however, our opinions are our own. Terms apply to offers listed on this page. VantageScore and FICO scores range from 300 to 850, making 300 the lowest credit score possible.
What is the average credit score? The average FICO credit score in the US is 718, according to the latest FICO data from April 2023. The average VantageScore is 701 as of December 2023. Credit scores, which are like a grade for your borrowing history, fall in the range of 300 to 850.
Of the three main credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion), none is considered better than the others. A lender may rely on a report from one bureau or all three bureaus to make its decisions about approving a loan.
While there's no such thing as the perfect “age of credit,” a FICO study reveals that for people with 800+ FICO Scores, their average age of credit accounts was 128 months (a little over 10.5 years).
Credit repair can cost around $100 a month and take several months — with no guarantee that your credit score will be higher at the end. Note that credit repair can't do anything that you can't do on your own, and it can't remove negative marks from your credit reports if they're accurate, timely and verifiable.