Search by Keyword
Minimum Credit Required
Explanation:
One of the most important factors to garnering approval for a financial product is your credit standing, which is often encapsulated by your credit score. Most lenders use the FICO score, so if you know your FICO score, the following table will give you a good sense of how different scores match up with different credit standing classifications. If you don't know your credit standing, you can get a sense of what it's likely to be by using our Free Credit Estimator.
If your Credit Score (FICO Score) Is: | Then you have: |
---|---|
Above 720 | Excellent credit |
660 - 719 | Good credit |
620 - 659 | Fair credit |
Below 620 | Bad credit |
Less than 3 years of credit under your name (e.g. students, new to the country, divorcees) | Limited history / New to credit |
It's important to note that simply meeting the Minimum Credit Required does not guarantee acceptance, as a number of other variables such as income, job status and debt obligations may also come into play.
Our Thoughts:
In general, the better a product's terms are, the higher the minimum credit required for approval will be. The reason for this is that lenders are inherently risk averse and are only willing to trust consumers with their money if they have a history of making on-time payments to their financial obligations. You should not apply for a product if you do not meet the Minimum Credit Required, given that you have little chance of garnering acceptance and could damage your credit standing in the process.