Your FICO score is calculated from five factors. Two of them account for 65% of the score. Understanding the weighting tells you exactly where to focus your effort first.
The Five Factors, Weighted
Payment History
35%Fastest improvement: Bring current delinquent accounts. Set up autopay. One on-time payment immediately stops further damage.
Credit Utilization
30%Fastest improvement: Pay balances below 10% of each card limit. This is the fastest lever -- can improve score in one billing cycle.
Length of Credit History
15%Fastest improvement: Do not close old cards. Add yourself as an authorized user on a family member's old, clean card.
Credit Mix
10%Fastest improvement: Having both revolving (credit cards) and installment (loans) accounts improves mix. Do not open accounts just for this.
New Credit
10%Fastest improvement: Limit hard inquiries. Each one costs 3-7 points and stays on your report for 2 years. Space applications 6+ months apart.
Factor 1: Payment History (35%)
This is the single largest factor. One missed payment can drop your score by 50-100 points depending on how long you have had the account. Late payments stay on your report for 7 years.
The fastest thing you can do: bring any past-due accounts current immediately. Future on-time payments start rebuilding the history over time.
Factor 2: Credit Utilization (30%)
Utilization is the ratio of your current balance to your credit limit across all revolving accounts. A $900 balance on a $1,000 card is 90% utilization -- devastating to your score. A $90 balance is 9% -- excellent.
Below 10% utilization is the sweet spot. Below 30% is acceptable. Above 30% starts dragging your score down. This factor is recalculated every month when your statement closes, so improvement can be fast.
Factor 3: Length of Credit History (15%)
Three sub-components: average age of all accounts, age of oldest account, age of newest account. The longer the better -- and this is why closing old credit cards is often a mistake. Closing a card removes it from your average age calculation after 10 years.
Factor 4: Credit Mix (10%)
Lenders like to see that you can manage different types of credit. Revolving accounts (credit cards, HELOCs) and installment accounts (auto loans, mortgages, personal loans) together signal a fuller credit profile.
Factor 5: New Credit (10%)
Every hard inquiry costs 3-7 points and stays visible for 2 years (though it only affects your score for 1 year). Multiple applications in a short window signal credit-seeking behavior. Exception: rate shopping for a mortgage or auto loan -- multiple inquiries within a 14-45 day window are counted as one inquiry.
Use the Storehouse360 Credit Score Estimator to see which factor is holding your score back the most.