 TITLE: What Are the FICO<sup>®<\/sup> Score Versions? CONTENT: How Are FICO® Scores Calculated?\n--------------------------------\nEach FICO® Score version calculates scores somewhat differently, and the specific calculations each uses are trade secrets, but FICO® cites five behaviors that influence _all_ FICO® Scores. Focusing on these score factors will tend to bring improvement to all credit scores:\n*   **Payment history**: Paying your bills on time each month—especially debts such as loans and credit cards—promotes credit score improvement more than any other single factor. On the other hand, payments made more than 30 days late can do major damage to your credit scores. Payment history accounts for about 35% of your FICO® Score.\n*   **Amounts owed:** Your total outstanding debt and your credit utilization—the percentage of your total credit card borrowing limit represented by the sum of your outstanding balances—contributes about 30% of your FICO® Score. Keeping your outstanding credit card balances well below 30% of your borrowing limit can help your FICO® Score.\n*   **The age of your credit history:** Lenders like to work with borrowers who have experience managing debt, as long as you avoid major missteps your credit scores tend to increase over time. This factor accounts for about 15% of your FICO® Score.\n*   **Credit mix:** Lenders appreciate borrowers who can responsibly manage multiple types of debt at once, so a blend of active accounts can increase your credit scores. The FICO® Score tends to reward combinations of installment debt (loans with fixed monthly payments and defined repayment terms) and revolving credit (accounts like credit cards, in which you borrow against a credit limit and make payments in variable amounts). Credit mix is responsible for about 10% of your FICO® Score.\n*   **New credit:** When you apply for a loan or credit card, the lender usually performs a credit check known as a hard inquiry, typically requesting a copy of your credit report and, often, a credit score based on that report. Hard inquiries can cause your credit score to drop a few points. And while scores tend to rebound quickly if you keep up with your bills, multiple credit applications for different types of credit over a short time can do cumulative harm to your credit scores. END