What Impacts Your Credit Score?

To understand how Firstcard can help improve your credit score, it is helpful to know what factors affect it.

FICO® Scores range from 300 to 850 and are based on five primary factors:

• Payment history (35%) – Your record of on-time payments
• Credit utilization ratio (30%) – Your credit/debt amount
• Length of credit history (15%) – How long your accounts have been active
• Credit mix (10%) – The variety of credit types (loans, credit cards, etc.)
• Number of recent inquiries (10%) – Recent account openings and inquiries

When your score sits at 500, it typically reflects late payments, high balances, or limited credit history. To reach 600, you must address these negative factors and establish a consistent pattern of responsible credit use.

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Firstcard helps you build credit by improving all factors that can impact your credit score:

1. Payment history. Every purchase made with Firstcard helps build your credit. Your payment history makes up 35% of your credit score. We report your on-time payment history to all three major credit bureaus (Equifax®, Experian®, and TransUnion®) to help you build credit.
2. Credit amount. Firstcard helps you form good spending habits by making sure that you don’t overspend. What you deposit is what you can spend.
3. Credit utilization ratio. Most secured credit cards have very low limits, often around $200-$500. To build credit safely, it’s recommended keeping your credit utilization below 20%. However, with a $200 limit, spending just $60 already puts you above 30%, which can hurt your score. Credit utilization makes up 30% of your credit score, so it’s very important not to go over the recommended credit limit. With Firstcard, there's no need to worry about your credit utilization ratio because we don’t have a credit limit. The amount you spend is the amount you deposit. Your spending won’t affect your utilization ratio, so you can avoid the negative impact high utilization often causes.
4. On-time payment. Firstcard’s autopay feature ensures you make on-time payments by automatically paying off your Firstcard bills using the money you’ve already deposited into your Firstcard account every month. 
5. Credit mix. Since Firstcard is a secured credit card, opening an account can improve your credit mix (which makes up 10% of your credit score) and positively impact your score.

👉 Firstcard user data shows that users with a credit score below 500 observed an average increase of 52 points within 3 months of their first purchase using Firstcard with on-time payment.

Firstcard makes building credit simple and stress free by removing the credit mistakes and roadblocks that hold most people back. You can spend confidently, pay on time automatically, and watch your credit grow without worrying about overspending, high utilization or hidden fees. With Firstcard, you are not just building a score, you are building the foundation for better opportunities and greater financial freedom.

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