The national average US FICO score fell in February 2025 due to the return of federal student loan delinquency reporting after a multi-year pause.
The average US credit score experienced a nationwide dip, primarily attributed to the resumption of federal student loan delinquency reporting on consumer credit reports, according to FICO . The scoring agency revealed that the national average US FICO score, a benchmark for evaluating consumer credit risk, fell to 715, reflecting a one-point decrease 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 tracked by the three major US consumer reporting agencies: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. These scores serve as a crucial tool for banks and lenders to assess the creditworthiness of potential borrowers. FICO regularly publishes the national average score, providing valuable insights into the state of consumer credit. Following a multi-year pause on federal student loan interest and payments under the CARES Act and a subsequent one-year 'on-ramp' grace period by the Department of Education, which shielded federal borrowers from the repercussions of missed payments, federal student loan delinquencies returned to credit files in February 2025. Consequentially, the percentage of consumers with more than a 90-day delinquency in the past six months surged from 7.4% in January to 8.3% in February. This marks the first time this figure has exceeded pre-pandemic levels, which stood at 8.1% in January 2020, as per FICO. Tommy Lee, senior director of analytics and scores at FICO, highlighted in a Wednesday blog post that 2.7 million borrowers had a new student loan delinquency reported as of February 2025. However, an additional 5.4 million consumers lacked a reported student loan delinquency, despite owing payments since October 2024. These borrowers are at risk of credit score deterioration if they fail to make payments, potentially leading to a new 90-day student loan delinquency being reported on their credit file. This could trigger further declines in the average FICO score in the coming months, according to Lee. Conversely, approximately 12.4 million borrowers have made at least one student loan payment since October 2024 and are well-positioned to maintain or enhance their credit score if they consistently make timely payments. FICO also reported that some consumers witnessed modest improvements in credit utilization, a measure of how much of an individual's total available credit they are using, which constitutes 30% of the FICO score. According to FICO, the average credit card utilization decreased from January to February due to seasonal reductions in credit card balances following the holidays. This contributed partially to offsetting the score decline, according to the scoring agency
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