Understanding What Your Credit Score Means

Credit score is a representation of your financial moves based on how well you’re paying your bills, keeping your overall debt under control, and maintaining some personal responsibility. Your credit score is a rating used by lenders to determine your credit risk and the potential of paying off your loan. You will want to know your credit score if you’re thinking about applying for a credit card, getting a loan, or buying a house.

Low scores can hurt your chances to receive a loan or lead to lenders charging you higher interest rates or requesting a larger down-payment. If you are interested in getting a mortgage and seeking to understand what lenders can offer, credit bureaus have made a formal policy (and, in fact, encourage) to allow for "rate shopping." But all of your credit pulls should happen within a limited, 14-day window to ensure your credit score is not negatively impacted. To help make sure your applications or lending inquiries are managed properly to fit these guidelines, connect with one of our Loan Officers for support.

The most used scores range from 300 to 850 and are based on your credit report, which details whether you pay bills on time, how you have used credit in the past, and how much debt you have.

So, what do the numbers mean?

The breakdown follows a ‘poor’ to ‘great’ progression, with…

300 to 579 being considered ‘Very Poor’
580 to 669 being labeled ‘Fair’
670 to 739 putting you in the ‘Good’ range
740 to 799 rating you as ‘Very Good’
And 800 to 850 being considered ‘Exceptional’

So, how do you find your credit score?

Our Fidelity Bank customers enrolled in online banking have free access to securely check and monitor their credit score. There’s no hard pull on your credit, and you can get alerts if your score changes. Learn more.

Since your credit score is based on your credit report, you should check that report regularly, looking for any discrepancies in payments and your credit accounts. You can check your credit report for free by visiting annualcreditreport.com.

Prepare for your next financial decision by being aware of your credit score. Check out the personal checking account options from Fidelity Bank, which come with Credit Alerts and our digital banking tools.

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