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CREDIT EDUCATION

Understand your score before you try to change it

Disputing inaccurate items is one part of the picture. Knowing what actually drives your score is the other — and it's the part a template can't do for you.

WHAT MAKES UP YOUR SCORE

Five factors, weighted very differently

Most credit scoring models — including the FICO models lenders use most — break down roughly like this. The exact formula is proprietary, but the weighting below reflects the widely published FICO breakdown.

Notice that payment history and utilization together account for about two-thirds of your score. That's usually where the fastest, most durable progress comes from — not from disputes alone.

Score FactorsFICO Model
Payment HistoryWhether accounts have been paid on time. The single biggest factor in most scoring models — even one 30-day-late mark can have an outsized effect.
35%
Amounts OwedYour balances relative to your limits (utilization), and how much of your total available credit is in use across all accounts.
30%
Length of HistoryHow long your accounts have been open, including the age of your oldest account and the average age of all accounts.
15%
Credit MixWhether you manage a mix of account types — revolving credit cards, installment loans, mortgages — responsibly.
10%
New CreditHow many accounts you've opened recently and how many hard inquiries appear on your report in a short window.
10%
Weightings are approximate and vary by scoring model and lender.
TWO DIFFERENT JOBS

Disputing and rebuilding solve different problems

A dispute fixes what's wrong on the report. Rebuilding improves what's actually true about your credit behavior. Most people need some of both.

Disputing addresses accuracy

Items that are inaccurate, unverifiable, outdated, or duplicated. This is what our dispute process is built around — and it only works on items that are genuinely wrong, not simply unflattering.

Rebuilding addresses behavior

Paying on time, lowering utilization, and letting accounts age. No dispute can substitute for this — it's the part that's entirely in your control going forward.

QUICK GLOSSARY

Terms worth knowing before you read your report

Utilization

The percentage of your available revolving credit currently in use. Lower is generally better for your score.

Hard Inquiry

A record of a lender checking your report for a credit decision. Too many in a short window can lower your score slightly.

Charge-Off

An account a creditor has written off as unlikely to be collected — it can still be sold to a collector and remains on your report.

Re-Aging

Improperly resetting the reporting clock on an old debt to make it appear more recent than it is — a common, disputable error.

Want to walk through your own report?

A free consultation covers both what's disputable and what's driving your score day to day.

USA-CreditRx LLC provides credit education and dispute-preparation services in accordance with the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) and Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). You have the right to dispute inaccurate information with the credit bureaus yourself, at no cost. We make no guarantee of specific results, score increases, or removal of any item, and no fee is collected until agreed-upon services have been performed.