What’s Not in a Fico Score?

Knowing what impacts your Fico score will help you focus your time and energy on what’s important, without worrying about what’s not included.

If you didn’t already know, there are five main factors that determine a Fico score, the most relied upon credit score currently available.

They include:

- Payment history
- Amounts owed
- Length of credit history
- New credit
- Types of credit

Now that we know what’s in a Fico score, let’s find out more about “what’s NOT in a Fico score.”

Your race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, and martial status do not affect your credit score, per the Consumer Credit Protection Act. You can thank anti-discrimination laws for that.

Your age is also not a determinant of a Fico score, though other types of credit scores may use it. And there’s certainly a correlation between older age and higher credit scores.  In short, those who have had access to credit longer (more credit history) tend to have higher credit scores than young consumers.

Your occupation, title, and employer may be included in your credit report, but do not affect your actual Fico score.

However, banks and lenders may use this information against you as part of their own underwriting decisioning. In fact, recently the credit bureaus have started working on income estimation as a means to tap new streams of revenue and give creditors new ways to determine risk.

Additionally, a Fico score does not take into account where you live, the interest rate being charged on your accounts, or any items reported as child/family support.

Rental history doesn’t affect Fico scores either, but now affects VantageScore.

Finally, certain types of credit inquiries don’t count against you, such as those initiated by you and those initiated by employers and insurance companies (will a credit check lower my score?)

And as a rule of thumb, if it’s not on your credit report, Fico doesn’t use it.

These Things Won’t Affect Your Fico Score

- Race, ethnicity, national origin
- Sex
- Age
- Martial status
- Occupation, title, income, employer
- Rental history (could change soon)
- Where you live
- Interest rate on accounts
- Items reported as child or family support

Tip: If you know somebody that works for a bank or lender, or any other company that has access to consumer credit reports, it’s not wise to have them pull one for free on your behalf.

It will look like you’re attempting to obtain credit from the associated company, and as a result, it could lower your credit score.

***Get all 3 credit scores FREE instantly without worrying about a credit score ding.