What is a poor credit score?

FICO credit scores range from 300 to 850 with a poor credit score considered to be anything below 620. Fair credit ranges from 620 to 680, good credit ranges from 680 to 760 and great credit ranges from 760 to 850.

Credit scores are used by insurance companies and individual lenders for a variety of things such as determining the interest rate to charge on a loan or the discount offered on an insurance policy. Other uses for credit scores include whether or not to extend credit, how much credit to approve, to increase or decrease the credit limit offered or even to close accounts deemed to be too much of a risk.