Credit Scores

A late payment is a required payment that was not made by the due date.

An on-time payment is a required payment made by the due date under the credit agreement.

Overall maturity of the accounts on a borrower's file, often discussed as a credit-score factor.

Credit mix describes the variety of credit account types that appear on a borrower's file.

A credit score is a numerical summary of how a borrower's credit file looks from a lending-risk perspective.

Canadian credit-score concepts that explain how score summaries relate to the underlying credit file and the main factors shaping interpretation.

Credit utilization is the share of available revolving credit that is currently being used.

How long the borrower's reported accounts and file history have existed, affecting score interpretation.

Managing revolving balances so reported usage stays reasonable relative to available limits and score risk.

A near-prime borrower sits between prime and subprime in overall lending risk.

New credit describes recent account openings and other fresh borrowing activity that can make a file look less settled.

Payment history is the record of whether credit obligations were paid on time, late, or not as agreed.

A prime borrower is generally viewed as a lower-risk borrower in a lending decision.

Rent reporting means eligible rental-payment information is sent to a credit-reporting system and may affect the borrower's file.

Risk tier means a lender's broad bucket for how risky a borrower or file appears.

A score factor is one of the major patterns in a credit file that helps explain why a credit score looks stronger or weaker.

A score range is a banded way of interpreting a credit score rather than reading the number in isolation.

A subprime borrower is generally viewed as a higher-risk borrower in a lending decision.

A thin credit file is a file with limited reported credit information or too little depth for easy risk assessment.