What percentage of credit score is payment history? (2024)

What percentage of credit score is payment history?

Your payment history accounts for 35% of your score. This shows whether you make payments on time, how often you miss payments, how many days past the due date you pay your bills, and how recently payments have been missed.

FICO Scores are calculated using many different pieces of credit data in your credit report. This data is grouped into five categories: payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), new credit (10%) and credit mix (10%).

Payment history shows how you've paid your accounts over the length of your credit. This evidence of repayment is the primary reason why payment history makes up 35% of your score and is a major factor in its calculation.

98% – Fair. 97% – Poor. <97% – Very Poor.

Payment history — whether you pay on time or late — is the most important factor of your credit score making up a whopping 35% of your score. That's more than any one of the other four main factors, which range from 10% to 30%.

A late payment will be removed from your credit reports after seven years. However, late payments generally have less influence on your credit scores as more time passes. Unpaid debts and debts in collections also generally come off your credit reports after seven years.

This may seem obvious, but the key to a solid payment history is paying your bills on time, every month, without fail. Late payments in your past can't be taken back, but their effect will diminish with time, so if you move ahead without new missteps, your credit scores and standing will tend to improve.

It's possible to have an excellent score with 99% on-time payment history; and it's possible to have a fair credit score with a 99% on-time payment history. Check to make sure your credit report is accurate. Sometimes you can get the late payments removed if you request it.

Late payments remain on your credit reports for seven years from the original date of the delinquency. Even if you repay overdue bills, the late payment won't fall off your credit report until after seven years.

Can you have a 700 credit score with late payments?

It may also characterize a longer credit history with a few mistakes along the way, such as occasional late or missed payments, or a tendency toward relatively high credit usage rates. Late payments (past due 30 days) appear in the credit reports of 33% of people with FICO^® Scores of 700.

FICO^® Scores consider a wide range of information on your credit report. However, they do not consider: Your race, color, religion, national origin, sex and marital status.

Improving Your Payment History

The very first thing to do is address any errors, outdated information, or unsubstantiated items. For example, if a creditor incorrectly reported a payment as late that was really made on time, you can dispute the late payment with the credit bureaus and creditor.

Various weighted factors mean that even with no credit, your credit score could still be low because the length of your credit history or credit mix, for example, could also be low.

Late payments are probably the most obvious thing that can hurt your credit score. If you have a missed payment and are more than 30 days late on a payment, it will show up on your credit report and lower your score. In fact, even one missed payment can drop your score by up to 100 points.

Several factors can ruin your credit score, including if you make several late payments or open to many credit card accounts at once. You can ruin your credit score if you file for bankruptcy or have a debt settlement. Most negative information will remain on your credit report for seven to 10 years.

It's possible that you could see your credit scores drop after fulfilling your payment obligations on a loan or credit card debt. Paying off debt might lower your credit scores if removing the debt affects certain factors like your credit mix, the length of your credit history or your credit utilization ratio.

Generally speaking, negative information such as late or missed payments, accounts that have been sent to collection agencies, accounts not being paid as agreed, or bankruptcies stays on credit reports for approximately seven years.

How to get 800 credit score?

To reach an 800 credit score, you'll want to demonstrate on-time bill payments, have a healthy mix of credit (meaning accounts other than just credit cards), use a small percentage of your available credit, and limit new credit inquiries.

In the U.S., the average credit score is 716, per Experian's latest data from the second quarter of 2023. And when you break down the average credit score by age, the typical American is hovering near or above that score.

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.

Although ranges vary depending on the credit scoring model, generally credit scores from 580 to 669 are considered fair; 670 to 739 are considered good; 740 to 799 are considered very good; and 800 and up are considered excellent.

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).