What Does My Credit Score Mean?

When you're shopping for a car in the Mount Pocono, Scranton, and East Stroudsburg areas, the topic of credit score often comes up. This may have you asking yourself questions like, "what does my credit score mean?"

This is important to know, especially when you're applying for an auto loan in the Stroudsburg and Tobyhanna areas. So, the team at Ray Price Chevrolet created this guide explaining what exactly your credit score mean

 

What Do Those Numbers Mean?

Your credit score will typically fall somewhere on a range between 300 and 850, with slight variations depending on the institution creating the report. This large range is also broken up into smaller categories that assign a value to your credit score between Excellent, Good, Fair, and Bad.

Again, there's some variation here, but these categories are roughly broken down like this:

  • Excellent: 720-850
  • Good: 690-719
  •  Fair: 630-689
  • Bad: 300-629

In addition to this breakdown, many auto lenders have their own categories that they use as a jumping-off point to decide what kind of rate to offer. These categories are:

  • Super Prime: 781-850
  • Prime: 661-780
  • Non-Prime: 601-660
    Subprime: 501-600
    Deep Subprime: 300-500

Remember, these numbers are simply a starting point and don't guarantee what kind of auto loan rate you'll receive. In addition to your actual credit score, many lenders will also look at factors like income, payment history, and accumulated debt and adjust their loan rates accordingly.

A lower credit score also doesn't disqualify you from receiving a loan. Most dealerships are happy to work with customers with all kinds of credit scores to help them secure a loan.

In fact, the advisors in our finance center will reach out to the wide network of local lenders they've built relationships with to work out the best deal possible.

 

What Affects Your Credit Score?

If your credit score falls in a lower category than you'd like, the good news is that this score is not permanent. It fluctuates, and your score is simply a snapshot of where you are at that moment in time. Everyone has the opportunity to improve their score.

Your score is decided based on several factors, including:

  • Payment history
  • Length of credit history
  • Number of new accounts
  • Number of accounts in use
  • Amount of credit limit in use

The biggest factor at play here is your payment history, so be sure to make as many payments on time as possible to improve your credit score. Using a large percentage of your credit limit can also affect your score, so be sure to keep your credit usage around 30% or lower by paying down your balances as soon as you can.

For more information on what affects your credit score, contact our finance center!

Learn More About What Your Credit Score Means

Drivers around the Mount Pocono, Tobyhanna, and Stroudsburg areas who want more information on what their credit score means, what factors into that score, or how our finance center helps people with any kind of credit, contact the team at Ray Price Chevrolet.

We can't wait to help you get behind the wheel of a car in the East Stroudsburg and Scranton areas, so contact our finance center today to get started!

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