Here’s why the average US credit score is falling

The national average U.S. credit score has decreased due to student loan delinquencies

The average U.S. credit score slipped nationwide, largely due to the resumption of federal student loan delinquency reporting on U.S. consumers’ credit reports, according to FICO.

The scoring agency reported that the national average U.S. FICO score – used as a benchmark for assessing consumer credit risk – fell to 715, marking a one-point drop from January and a two-point decline from April 2024.

FICO scores, which range from 300 to 850, fluctuate based on updates to borrower behavior that is tracked by the three major U.S. consumer reporting agencies: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.

These scores are used by banks and lenders to see who they can safely lend money to.

FICO regularly publishes the national average score, offering key insight into the state of consumer credit.

Impact of Student Loan Delinquencies

According to FICO, federal student loan delinquencies were once again reported on credit files as of February 2025, following the emergency multi-year pause on federal student loan interest and payments under the CARES Act and a one-year “on-ramp” grace period by the Department of Education, which protected federal borrowers from the significant consequences of not making their student loan payments.

The share of consumers with more than a 90-day delinquency in the past six months increased from 7.4% in January to 8.3% in February.

That is the first time this figure has surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

In January 2020, it was 8.1%, according to FICO.

Future Credit Score Trends

Tommy Lee, senior director of analytics and scores at FICO, mentioned in a blog post that borrowers who have not made student loan payments since October 2024 are at risk of having their credit score impacted if they fail to make payments. This could lead to further declines in the average FICO score over the next few months.

Comparatively, borrowers who have made at least one payment on their student loan since October 2024 are in a good position to maintain or improve their credit score if they continue to make timely payments.

Improvements in Credit Use

FICO also reported that some consumers saw modest improvements in credit use, which is how much of someone’s total available credit they are using. This metric represents 30% of the FICO score.

According to FICO, the average credit card use decreased from January to February due to seasonal reductions in credit card balances following the holidays. This helped partially offset the score decline, according to the scoring agency.