Credit reports and scores: the basics
Your credit report is the record; your score is a grade computed from it. You can check the record for free, and knowing what feeds the score removes most of the mystery.
Key takeaways
- A credit report is your borrowing history; a credit score is a number computed from that history.
- You are entitled to a free report from each nationwide bureau every 12 months through AnnualCreditReport.com.
- Checking your own credit report does not hurt your score.
- In the FICO model, payment history (35%) and amounts owed (30%) carry most of the weight.
Two different things hide behind the phrase "my credit": a report and a score. The report is a history file: accounts, balances, payment records, and applications, maintained by the three nationwide bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The score is a number computed from that file to estimate lending risk. Fix the file and the number follows; obsess over the number and you are watching a thermometer instead of the weather.
Getting your reports
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau confirms the baseline right: one free credit report from each of the three bureaus every 12 months, requested through AnnualCreditReport.com, which is the federally authorized site. Reports from the three bureaus are not identical, since not every lender reports to all three, so checking all of them over time gives the full picture.
The CFPB also answers the worry that stops many people from looking: requesting your own credit report does not hurt your score. Self-checks are "soft" inquiries and are not part of score calculations.
When you read a report, you are looking for two things: accounts you do not recognize, and errors on accounts you do, such as a payment marked late that was not. Both can be disputed with the bureau, a process the bureaus are required to investigate.
What feeds a FICO score
FICO publishes the factor weights for its general model:
| Factor | Weight | In plain terms |
|---|---|---|
| Payment history | 35% | Have past accounts been paid on time |
| Amounts owed | 30% | How much of available credit is in use |
| Length of credit history | 15% | How long accounts have existed, on average and at most |
| New credit | 10% | How many recent applications and new accounts |
| Credit mix | 10% | Experience across cards, installment loans, mortgages |
Two-thirds of the score is the first two rows. Practically, that means the score mostly reflects whether payments arrive on time and how heavily the available credit is used, and that the exotic factors people worry about live in the small slices.
A detail worth knowing rather than fearing: because history length counts, closing a long-held card can shorten your average account age over time. That is a fact about the model, not an instruction to keep or close anything.
Where this shows up in Owniko
Owniko does not pull credit reports or scores; that data belongs to the bureaus and lenders. What Owniko does keep visible are the inputs you control: card balances against their limits, loan balances, and payment due dates on the calendar, so the on-time, low-utilization pattern the score rewards is the pattern your records already encourage.
Keep reading
References
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: How do I get a free copy of my credit reports?
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Does requesting my credit report hurt my credit score?
- myFICO (Fair Isaac Corporation): What’s in my FICO Scores?