Hello, everyone. My name is Brenda Butnick, and I am a financial coach at Jewish Family Service of Greater Dallas. I work one-on-one with clients to help them achieve financial self-sufficiency.

In my last blog, I discussed the importance of credit scores. Today, I want to share with you what comprises a credit score.

What’s in My FICO Score? FICO stands for the Fair Isaac Corporation, a pioneer in developing a method for calculating credit scores based on information collected by credit reporting agencies. A credit score is a number that assesses your creditworthiness, typically ranging from 300 to 850.

FICO scores are calculated using several different pieces of credit data in your credit report.
This data is grouped into five categories:
1. Payment history (35%)
2. Amounts owed (30%)
3. Length of credit history (15%)
4. New credit (10%)
5. Credit mix (10%)

These factors are used to predict how likely you are to repay a loan or make payments on time.

I will talk more about the three C’s of credit scores in my next post on Friday, September 5.

That’s all for your financial fitness today. Until next time—take care and stay financially fit!