A good credit score in 2026 typically means a FICO score of 670 or higher, or a VantageScore of 661 or higher. The major scoring agencies divide their ranges into five tiers, and the threshold between fair and good is the most consequential cutoff for consumer lending. Above 670, the consumer becomes eligible for prime credit card rates, conventional auto loan pricing, and qualifies for most mortgage products. Below it, options narrow sharply and pricing rises.
What counts as good depends on the use case. A 670 score is good enough for a credit card from a major issuer but may not be good enough for the best mortgage rate, where lenders typically reserve their top tier for 760 and above. A 720 score qualifies for nearly any consumer credit product but still leaves money on the table compared to a 780+ score on a 30-year mortgage. The score required to be considered a top-tier borrower has crept upward as lenders have refined their pricing tiers over the past decade.
The median FICO score across the U.S. population was approximately 717 in 2025 according to data published by FICO, with about 23 percent of consumers at 800 or above and roughly 16 percent below 600. A score above the median qualifies as good in most contexts, and scores in the 740 to 799 range qualify as very good. The 800+ range is exceptional, with the smallest pricing improvements relative to the very good tier but the broadest set of approvals.
FICO Score Ranges in 2026
FICO scores range from 300 to 850 and are divided into five categories. Poor: 300 to 579. Fair: 580 to 669. Good: 670 to 739. Very Good: 740 to 799. Exceptional: 800 to 850. The cutoffs are set by FICO and used by most lenders as the primary segmentation for credit decisions, though individual lenders may apply their own internal thresholds that differ slightly from the published categories.
The good threshold at 670 is the most economically significant cutoff in the FICO range. Below 670, lenders price loans at subprime or near-prime rates, often requiring larger down payments, higher interest rates, or co-signers. At 670 and above, conventional lending opens up. The next major step is at 740, where most lenders move the borrower into a lower interest rate tier on mortgages and auto loans.
VantageScore Ranges in 2026
VantageScore, the joint venture between Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, uses a slightly different categorization despite sharing the 300 to 850 range. VantageScore 3.0 and 4.0 use these tiers: Very Poor: 300 to 499. Poor: 500 to 600. Fair: 601 to 660. Good: 661 to 780. Excellent: 781 to 850. The good range is wider than FICO's and overlaps both FICO's good and very good tiers.
VantageScore is used by some credit card issuers and most free credit monitoring tools, including Credit Karma. Lenders making large credit decisions (mortgages, auto loans) typically use FICO rather than VantageScore, so a consumer's VantageScore may be higher than their actual lender-facing FICO. The two scores can differ by 20 to 80 points on the same credit file, with VantageScore generally running slightly higher than FICO on most profiles.
Why the Definition of Good Depends on Use Case
Lenders set their own internal thresholds for approval and pricing, which means good is a relative term. A 680 score qualifies for a typical Chase or American Express credit card but may not qualify for the lender's best rewards card, which is reserved for 740+. A 700 score qualifies for most auto loans but at a higher rate than a 760 score on the same loan amount.
Mortgage lenders use the tightest pricing tiers, with the difference between 700 and 760 worth 0.25 to 0.50 percentage points of interest on a 30-year loan. The same consumer with the same income and the same down payment will pay tens of thousands of dollars more over the life of the loan depending on which side of 740 their FICO score falls when the application is underwritten.
Mortgage Lending Score Thresholds
Conventional mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac generally require a minimum FICO of 620, with the best pricing at 740 and above. FHA loans, designed for borrowers with weaker credit, allow scores as low as 580 with a 3.5 percent down payment and as low as 500 with 10 percent down. VA loans for eligible service members do not have a statutory minimum but most VA lenders require 580 to 620 in practice.
Jumbo loans (above the conforming loan limit, which exceeds $766,550 in most counties in 2026) typically require 700 or higher, with the best pricing reserved for 760 and above. Mortgage underwriting uses older FICO models (FICO 2, FICO 4, FICO 5) that produce slightly different scores than the FICO 8 most consumers see on credit monitoring apps. The mortgage version can run 10 to 30 points lower or higher than the consumer-facing version on the same file.
The mortgage tiering structure makes 740 a more meaningful target than 670 for any consumer planning to apply for a home loan. The savings from crossing the 740 threshold, accumulated over a 30-year amortization, typically exceed $30,000 to $50,000 on a $400,000 loan even at modest rate differences.
Auto Lending Score Thresholds
Auto lenders price more aggressively than mortgage lenders at the lower end of the score range. Prime auto rates (the lowest rates published by major captive lenders such as Toyota Financial or Honda Financial) require 720 or higher in 2026, with rate steps at roughly 700, 660, 620, and 580. Subprime auto lending serves borrowers below 580, with interest rates that can exceed 18 to 22 percent on used vehicles.
Auto underwriting uses the FICO Auto Score, an industry-specific version that weights auto-related history more heavily than the standard FICO 8. A consumer with prior auto loans paid on time may score higher on the FICO Auto model than on standard FICO. The reverse can also occur when the consumer has had auto-specific delinquencies that pull down the auto-weighted version below the standard version.
Credit Card Approval Tiers
Credit card issuers segment their products by score tier. Premium cards with annual fees of $250 to $695 (Chase Sapphire Reserve, American Express Platinum) typically require 740 or higher. Mid-tier rewards cards (Capital One Venture, Chase Sapphire Preferred) are approvable from about 680 to 700. No-fee starter cards, secured cards, and credit-builder products are available across most of the score range, including below 580.
Credit card underwriting uses the FICO Bankcard Score, weighted toward revolving credit history. A consumer with strong installment loan history but limited credit card experience may score lower on FICO Bankcard than on standard FICO. The reverse applies to consumers with extensive credit card history and few installment loans.
The National Distribution of Credit Scores
FICO publishes distribution data showing how U.S. consumers' scores are spread across the 300 to 850 range. As of 2025, approximately 23 percent of consumers had scores of 800 or above, 28 percent fell in the 740 to 799 range, 21 percent in the 670 to 739 range, 17 percent in the 580 to 669 range, and 11 percent below 580. The median sits at roughly 717, and the average is slightly lower due to the long lower tail.
The distribution has shifted upward over the past 15 years. The median score in 2010 was approximately 686, and the percentage of consumers above 800 was closer to 18 percent. Improvements in credit reporting practices (the removal of medical collections under $500, civil judgments, and most tax liens) have lifted millions of consumers out of the lower tiers without changing their underlying payment behavior.
What Differentiates Each Tier
Moving from fair (580 to 669) to good (670 to 739) usually requires removing one or more recent negative items (late payments, collections) or substantially lowering utilization. Consumers in the fair range often have one or two derogatory marks within the past two years, or carry revolving balances that report utilization above 50 percent. Resolving either condition typically moves a fair-range file into the good range within 60 to 120 days.
Moving from good (670 to 739) to very good (740 to 799) typically requires steady on-time payment history over 12 to 24 months, low aggregate utilization (under 10 to 15 percent), and a credit file with at least five active tradelines. Many consumers plateau in the high 720s or low 730s for years before the next derogatory ages off or a new positive tradeline lifts the average.
Score Differences Across Bureaus
The same consumer can have meaningfully different scores at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Differences of 10 to 50 points between bureaus are common, driven by furnishers reporting to one bureau but not the others, dispute outcomes that have updated one file but not yet propagated, or specialty data appearing on one bureau's file (such as Experian Boost data, which adds utility and telecom payment history to Experian only).
Lenders making single-bureau decisions (most credit card issuers, most personal loan lenders) typically pull only one bureau's file. Mortgage underwriting pulls all three and uses the middle score, which is more representative than any single bureau but can still differ from what the consumer sees in a free monitoring app showing just one bureau's number.
Why the Tier Boundaries Are Approximate
FICO's and VantageScore's published tier boundaries are guidance, not contracts. Individual lenders set their own approval and pricing thresholds, which may be tighter (a credit card issuer requiring 720 for a card FICO labels as good for 670) or looser (an auto lender approving a 650 borrower at near-prime pricing on a strong income profile). Two consumers with the same score can receive different outcomes from the same lender depending on their non-score factors.
Income, employment history, debt-to-income ratio, and the consumer's relationship with the lender (existing customer or new applicant) all factor into the underwriting decision alongside the credit score. A 720 borrower with a 30 percent debt-to-income ratio is a better risk than a 720 borrower with a 50 percent debt-to-income ratio, and lenders will price the two applications differently even though the score is identical.
How to Move Up to the Next Tier
The fastest way to move up tiers is to address the largest scoring factor that is currently dragging the file down. For most consumers in the fair or low-good range, that factor is utilization (paying down revolving balances to under 30 percent of limits, then under 10 percent) or recent late payments (waiting for them to age, or filing FCRA disputes if any are inaccurate).
For consumers in the high-good or very-good range, score improvements come from longer average age of accounts (which requires patience rather than action), broader credit mix (adding an installment loan if the file has only credit cards), and avoiding new applications that generate hard inquiries. The 760+ range generally requires at least seven years of clean credit history with no derogatory items.
Errors and Inaccurate Reporting
Roughly one in five consumer credit reports contains an error that could affect a score, according to FTC research. Errors include accounts that do not belong to the consumer, payment statuses reported incorrectly, balances that have not updated to reflect payments, and re-aged collections that should have aged off. Each of these is disputable under the FCRA and can be removed within 30 days if the furnisher cannot verify the disputed information.
A consumer whose score sits in the fair range may move into good simply by removing inaccurate or unverifiable items, with no change in underlying credit behavior. This is the fastest mechanism for tier movement and the most common source of unexpected score gains in the first few months after a thorough credit report review.
The Bottom Line
A good FICO score in 2026 is 670 or higher, with very good at 740 and exceptional at 800. The corresponding VantageScore thresholds are 661 for good and 781 for excellent. The median U.S. consumer sits at about 717, in the good range. Crossing the 740 threshold unlocks the best mortgage and auto rates and is worth a substantial dollar value over the life of large loans. Crossing 800 produces the broadest approvals but only modest additional pricing improvements relative to 740.
Score tier boundaries are guidance, not contracts. Lenders set their own thresholds and weigh income, debt-to-income, and other factors alongside the score. Two consumers with the same score can receive different outcomes from the same lender. Moving up a tier typically requires addressing the largest current scoring factor (utilization, recent lates, or inaccurate reporting) and then maintaining steady on-time history over the months and years that follow.
Results may vary. No specific outcome is guaranteed. This article is general information about credit score tiers and lending thresholds, not legal or financial advice. CreditRefresh helps consumers identify potential FCRA violations and generate dispute letters, but does not provide attorney review of any letter or claim. Consumers preparing for major loan applications should consult a licensed mortgage or financial professional in addition to reviewing their credit reports.
