What is a fair credit score?

FICO score is divided into five categories – very poor, fair, good, very good, and exceptional and ranges from 300 to 850. Once you know your credit score you can easily find out whether you’ve got a fair credit score or not.

Credit Score

Rating

% of People

Impact
300-579 Very Poor 17% You may be required to pay a fee or deposit to get loan approval. However, with this rating the chances of getting approval for loan or credit is zero.
580-669 Fair 20.2% If you’ve fair credit score, you’ll be considered as subprime borrowers. This means that your credit standing is less than what is normally desired.
670-739 Good 21.5% Only 8% of applicants in this score range are likely to become seriously delinquent in the future.
740-799 Very Good 18.2% If you exist in this range, you’re likely to get better than average rates from lenders.
800-850 Exceptional 19.9% If you exist in this range, you’ll receive the best rates from lenders.

Why do you need to have a fair credit card?

Having a fair credit score means you’ll be seen as sub-prime by lenders. This means you’ll likely be getting less favorable terms in comparison to an individual with a higher credit score. You must have a good credit score to take out the loan at less interest. Credit cards for fair credit scores work like credit cards for bad credit scores. They allow you to get a credit card and use it to improve your credit score.

Improving your credit scores over time will boost your chances to qualify for credit or loan with more favorable terms. In general, having good credit scores may help improve your financial situation. Here are some reasons why you would want to earn higher credit scores:

  • Having a higher credit score means you can get loans including mortgage, financial, student, personal, and more at lower interest rates.
  • You can get better credit card rewards and deals, 0% interest rates and higher credit limits with higher credit scores.
  • If you’ve higher credit scores, you can get approval for renting a home or apartment easily.
  • Good credit can help you get a better job and improve your career

Best Credit Cards for Fair Credit Score

Here are a few of the best credit cards for fair credit scores.

  • Capital One Platinum Credit Card
  • Journey Student Rewards from Capital One
  • Capital One Spark Classic for Business
  • Discover it for Students
  • Indigo Unsecured Mastercard

Tips To Improve Fair Credit

Improving your credit may take some time. However, there are some steps that you can follow to improve your credit score. Here’s what you need to do:

  • Pay your debts on time – Clearing your debts before the due date is really important for raising your score. If you’re paying off already existing debts, make sure to pay for the ones with the highest interest rate first. This will help you avoid as much new interest as possible.
  • Reduce your credit utilization – The amount of your available credit that you use each month comprises about 30% of your credit score calculation. Keep in mind to use less than 30% of your credit line. The lower, the better.
  • Get a no annual fee credit card – You won’t be able to get zero percent credit card until you’ve a good credit score. So to improve your credit score and save money, you can go for no fee credit cards.