credit score

[ kred-it skawr ]

noun

, Personal Finance.

1. a numerical ranking of an individual’s financial creditworthiness based on spending and credit history, indicating to potential lenders and credit card issuers the individual’s capacity and likelihood to make timely payments of amounts due on loans or credit cards.

Word History and Origins

Origin of credit score¹

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

Credit Karma has a calculator to help you figure this out, and a better credit score means a lower PMI rate.

From Salon

Credit Karma has a calculator to help you figure this out, and a better credit score means a lower PMI rate.

From Salon

I spent my 20s accruing credit card debt and student loans, working low-paying jobs with no retirement plans or health insurance, not thinking about investing and never checking my credit score.

From Salon

For example, I had a low credit score despite paying all of my bills and rent on time every month for years.

From Salon

It insists that a low credit score reflects financial irresponsibility, for example, but ignores the ways credit scoring excludes so many folks — like renters, whose payments aren’t reported to credit bureaus; low-income folks who can’t afford the collateral for secured credit; Black Americans, who were deliberately excluded from credit and wealth-building for centuries; or LGBTQ+ folks whose protection from blatant discrimination in lending wasn’t codified until 2021.

From Salon