{"id":12833,"date":"2020-02-10T07:00:38","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T13:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.netcredit.com\/blog\/?p=12833"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:17:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:17:46","slug":"what-does-my-credit-score-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.netcredit.com\/blog\/what-does-my-credit-score-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does My Credit Score Mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/economy\/the-percentage-of-consumers-with-a-perfect-850-credit-score-is-up-slightly-heres-how-they-achieved-perfection\/2019\/09\/24\/bd567822-df04-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Washington Post<\/a>, only 1.6 percent of Americans actually had <em>perfect credit<\/em> in 2019. While that\u2019s great for those lucky one-percenters, the vast majority of us are realistically still building our credit portfolio and\/or don\u2019t have a spotless credit history.<\/p>\n<p>While the average consumer credit score has steadily risen to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fico.com\/blogs\/deep-dive-distribution-fico-score-across-us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">all-time-high<\/a>, many Americans fall into the less-than-perfect or the \u201cfair\u201d credit category. There are further denominations, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.consumerfinance.gov\/data-research\/consumer-credit-trends\/student-loans\/borrower-risk-profiles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">prime, sub-prime and near-prime<\/a>, that refer to the borrower\u2019s general credit rating classification. Specific lenders will have different distinctions and requirements, so these credit groupings may not apply to all scenarios.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What Does Near-Prime Credit Mean?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Near-prime consumers, or those with a credit score that falls roughly in the \u201cfair\u201d credit grade, typically have a rating in the low- to mid-600 range out of 850 points. A prime customer would likely receive some of the lowest cost rates. Near-prime customers would typically see a more conservative offer with respect to lenders, so they might end up paying a bit more in interest than those with a stellar credit score.<\/p>\n<p>With a prime credit rating, lenders see it as less of a funding risk, whereas the sub-prime category represents those with either very new credit or those with more significant funding risks.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why Does My Credit Score Matter?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Your credit score comes into play for various reasons, like when you borrow money for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netcredit.com\/blog\/how-do-car-loans-affect-your-credit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">car loan<\/a>, request a higher credit limit and possibly even when you apply for a job. Since it can affect so many different aspects of your life, it\u2019s a good idea to aim for a higher score.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>How Do I Raise My Credit Score?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You can raise your score from a near-prime rating to a prime- or super-prime score (the highest tier) by making on-time payments, keeping your credit utilization rate down, etc. In fact, since the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netcredit.com\/blog\/great-recession-of-2008\/\">Great Recession<\/a> roughly 10 years ago, the average consumer credit rating has improved <em>in every state<\/em>, with the national average increase at 19 points.<sup>1<\/sup> It\u2019s helpful if you know exactly how your score is calculated since some aspects of your score have a bigger impact on it than others.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>References<\/p>\n<p><sup>1<\/sup>Quinn, T. (2019). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fico.com\/blogs\/deep-dive-distribution-fico-score-across-us\">A Deep Dive Into the Distribution of the FICO Score Across the US<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to the Washington Post, only 1.6 percent of Americans actually had perfect credit in 2019. While that\u2019s great for &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":12834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[623],"tags":[103,602,105,603],"class_list":["post-12833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-credit-health","tag-credit-management","tag-credit-monitoring","tag-credit-score","tag-fair-credit"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","pp_post_mime_type":"publish","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Does My Credit Score Mean? - NetCredit Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While the average consumer credit score has steadily risen to an all-time-high, many Americans fall into less-than-perfect, or the \u201cfair\u201d credit category.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.netcredit.com\/blog\/what-does-my-credit-score-mean\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Does My Credit Score Mean? 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