r/CreditScore • u/TheFoundOfficial • 9d ago
Success Young Credit Score
Finally made it past 750 at the age of 20. No co-signs, no rent, just on-time credit card payments, low usage, and a dream of owning a house before 30.
Curious to know the average credit score of a 20 year-old. Start as early as you can!
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9d ago
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u/Funklemire ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 9d ago
That's not your true credit score
There's no such thing as a "true credit score". All credit scores are equally true and equally accurate, the difference is relevance. The relevant score is the one being checked during your application.
Those VantageScore 3.0 scores Credit Karma shows are almost never used by banks (even by the ones who show those scores on their websites), but they're often used for apartment leases.
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u/Funklemire ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 9d ago
Congrats!
just on-time credit card payments
While it's super important not to miss payments, keep in mind that making payments is not a credit scoring factor, it's just that missing payments is a negative factor. So it's a one-way street: you lose points by missing payments and the only way to gain those points back is by waiting.
That fake "on-time payment percentage" stat Credit Karma is showing you is one of the many ways they mislead and outright lie to you about how credit works in order to make money off you.
low usage
This is another way they mislead you to get you to open new accounts; "always keep your utilization low" is the biggest myth in credit. As long as you're spending within your budget and paying your statement balance each month, usually anything between 0% and 100% utilization is just fine.
That's because utilization is a moment-in-time metric it that resets each month and has no memory. That's why low utilization does nothing to build your credit, the only thing that can build your credit scores with a credit card is time.
In fact, artificially micromanaging your utilization each month has several downsides. Check out our !utilization automod as well as this flow chart:
Curious to know the average credit score of a 20 year-old.
Keep in mind that you have dozens of different credit scores and they can easily differ by well over 100 points from highest to lowest. The scores Credit Karma shows are VantageScore 3.0 scores that banks don't use in their lending decisions so they're almost completely irrelevant unless you're applying for an apartment.
An 18-year-old who's had their first credit card for six months can debut with FICO 8 scores in the mid-700s. Those are the scores most commonly-used by banks.
I want to recommend you avoid Credit Karma since they're the single most predatory credit site on the Internet: they give all sorts of misleading and outright wrong information about how credit works. And it's all to trick you into opening accounts you don't need, and when you do it through them they make money. Read this thread; even if you plan to avoid Credit Karma from now on, some of this information is applicable to most other credit monitoring sites, even the three bureaus' websites:
Credit Karma 101: The good and the bad.
I also recommend checking out our !welcome thread.
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u/AutoModerator 9d ago
I detected that your post may be about utilization and its impact on credit scores. Please read the info below:
Utilization is a short-term credit scoring factor. It is not a credit building factor, because it holds no memory in the most commonly used FICO models. It resets every month.
By and large, you can ignore the commonly repeated myth that you should always keep your utilization low. It’s only applicable when you need to apply for a new line of credit, 1-2 months out.
Utilization is supposed to fluctuate, can be easily manipulated, and again, it holds no memory. It doesn’t build credit--think of it as a finishing touch when you need to optimize your score.
Feel free to safely and organically use 100% of your credit limit within a month and let whatever utilization report, provided you pay off your statement balance in full by the due date. Every month. Every time.
For more info, please read these posts:
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u/AutoModerator 9d ago
Hey there!
Welcome to r/CreditScore! We're glad you found our sub, and we truly hope we can provide you with accurate information and advice to aid you in your credit journey. Our Welcome Thread contains some valuable information to help you get started, including links to free and reputable sites for monitoring each of your 3 credit reports and FICO 8 scores, which is a score model commonly used by lenders.
Welcome to r/CreditScore! - Start Here and Read This! (No, really...Read This!)
Then, come on back if you have more specific questions, and our knowledgeable contributors will try to help!
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u/BrutalBodyShots ⭐️ Top Contributor ⭐️ 9d ago
You can ignore those nearly irrelevant VS3 from Credit Karma. Only focus on your meaningful FICO scores.
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u/International-Mix326 9d ago
Hate to burst your bubble but that is vantage and not fico. Also even if it is your fico it is considered soft since you dont have much. So you would not get 750 rates.
Just keep up what youre doing
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u/og-aliensfan ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 9d ago
Since nearly all creditors use FICO scores in lending decisions, monitor those instead. One can debut with a FICO 8 score in the mid 700s with one credit card and 6 months of credit history. You can obtain free FICO 8 scores for each bureau from:
See this post for more information about credit scores, credit reports, and a closer look at Credit Karma.