Average FICO Score at New High

Sep 24, 2018

The frequency of defects, fraudulence and misrepresentation in the information submitted in mortgage loan applications during May decreased by 2.4 percent compared with April

FICO’s average national credit score reached 704, a new peak.

According to a CNBC report, average credit scores reached a low of 686 during last decade’s housing crisis. FICO rates scores over 700 as “solidly good” and attributed the new record-setting score to changes in public record standards that erased all civil judgments and tax liens from credit reports.

However, Ethan Dornhelm, vice president for scores and analytics at FICO, warned that there is a downside to the increasing credit scores: a rising level of credit card balances and delinquencies. “As we've gotten further from the Great Recession, lenders are increasingly competing for new card volume, and part of that is loosening their underwriting criteria in order to be more competitive,” Dornhelm said.

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Phil Hall

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Sep 24, 2018

Analysis and Data

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Analysis and Data

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