How Long Does It Take to Build Credit?
Bills Bottom Line
You need about six months of credit reporting to get your first FICO Score, and a little less for a VantageScore. Earning a good credit score could take years, depending on your borrowing and repayment patterns. Blemishes like late payments and collections count for less over time when you add good repayment history to your file.
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You want a loan or a credit card on fair terms, and you want to know how long it will take to get there. Maybe you've never had a credit account, or maybe a late payment, collection, or settled debt has pulled your score down.
Whether you’re trying to build or rebuild a good credit score, the wait gets easier once you know where you are now, so you can plan your next move.
How long does it take to get a credit score?
Your credit report and your credit score are two different things, and the score usually isn't printed on the report. Credit scores are calculated by a scoring model (like FICO or VantageScore) from the information in your credit report.
A first FICO Score takes about six months from when your first account starts reporting. It takes at least one creditor reporting to a credit bureau for six months or more. VantageScore, the other popular scoring model, needs only one open loan and often produces a score within a month of the account appearing on your credit report.
The clock starts when a lender reports your account. Most bank and nationwide chain store credit cards, along with loans, show up on credit reports, though not every creditor reports. A new account usually appears after its first billing cycle, so give it a month or two. If it still isn't there, ask the creditor whether it reports and when.
How long does it take to build good credit?
Good credit can take years to build, and no set timeline fits everyone. What is a good credit score? On the FICO scale of 300 to 850, a good score is 670 to 739. Poor and Fair credit are lower, while Very Good and Exceptional are the higher ranges.
A first score is generally neutral, so you start somewhere in the middle. Payment history (35% of a FICO Score) and credit utilization, or amounts owed (30%), weigh most, so on-time payments and keeping balances low help you get into the Good range faster.
Time itself is part of the score: length of credit history makes up 15% of a FICO Score. FICO counts the age of your oldest and newest accounts and the average age of all your accounts.
When the rest of your report looks good, a short history can still earn a high FICO Score. The table shows the stages in order for someone starting with no credit. If you're starting over after negative items, your timeline is in How long does it take to rebuild credit?
| Stage | How long | What to keep doing |
|---|---|---|
| First account shows on your report | One to two months | Pay on time from the first bill |
| First FICO Score | About six months of reporting | Keep the account open and in use |
| First score to good (670 to 739) | Months to years | Pay on time, keep balances low |
How long does it take to improve your credit score?
A lower credit card balance can show in your score within a few days, once your lender reports it. Many lenders update the credit bureaus about every 30 to 45 days, each at its own time of the month, so it’s possible to lower your balance and not see a credit score change for a month or two.
Balances influence your credit utilization: your balances on credit cards and other revolving credit, divided by their credit limits. A $300 balance on a $1,000 limit is 30%, and paying it down to $90 makes it 9%. In general, lower is better, ideally in the single digits.
Utilization and payment history run on different clocks. Scoring models consider only your latest reported balances when calculating utilization so paying down a balance can improve your score quickly. A late payment lasts longer: its effect lessens over time, but it typically stays on your report for years. How to improve your credit score depends on whether your balances are high or you have late payments in your history.
What slows down building credit?
Late payments, collection accounts, charge-offs, bankruptcy and other payment history blemishes can make building credit take longer. Most negative information can be reported for seven years.
The sooner you bring past-due accounts current, the less harm a missed payment does. One payment 30 or more days late can seriously hurt your scores, and the harm grows the further behind you fall.
For a late payment, the clock starts at the original delinquency date: the first payment you missed. For a collection or a charge-off, federal law starts the seven years 180 days after that delinquency.
The table shows how long each item can stay. If yours isn't listed, count seven years.
| Negative item | How long it can stay | When the clock starts |
|---|---|---|
| Late payment | Seven years | Original delinquency date |
| Collection account | Seven years | 180 days after the delinquency began |
| Charge-off | Seven years | 180 days after the delinquency began |
| Debt settled for less | Seven years | Original delinquency date, or settlement date if current when settled |
| Chapter 13 bankruptcy | Seven years (the law allows up to 10) | Filing date |
| Chapter 7 bankruptcy | 10 years | Filing date |
Late payments already reported stay on your credit reports even after you catch up. A paid or settled collection may also stay visible for a full seven years. Recent scoring versions ignore paid collections, but many lenders still use older credit scores that count them.
A settled debt shows as no longer owed, and it counts as a negative item because the lender accepted less than the full amount owed as payment in full. The harm fades over time, and it’s possible to rebuild credit after debt settlement.
How long does it take to rebuild credit?
A rebuild can take a few months to a year or more. The time depends on where you start and how steadily you pay on time, pay down balances, and address negative items.
Scoring models weigh recent behavior more heavily than older behavior. Every on-time payment from here makes an old late payment, charge-off, or collection count for less, even though it's still on your report. A recent late payment can lower a score a lot, while the same one three years in the past has much less impact. Your score could improve even with a bankruptcy still lingering on your report.
The higher your score, the more it could be hurt by negative data. A first late payment does more damage to a good-or-better score than it would to a score already lowered by missed payments or other blemishes.
Accurate information stays until its time limit ends
You can dispute an error yourself, at no cost, and only an error can be fixed early. The steps are in How to build credit faster.
No one has the right to remove accurate negative information, a credit repair company included. Anything such a company can legally do, you can do yourself for little or no cost.
A goodwill letter asks the creditor to remove an accurate item as a favor, and the creditor doesn't have to agree.
How long does it take to build credit from 300 to 700?
The climb from 300 to 700, a score in FICO's good range, can take a few months or a few years, depending on what pulled your score down.
Scores near 300 mostly follow serious problems, such as a loan default or a bankruptcy. Collections, charge-offs, and bankruptcy take more time and steady effort, and a Chapter 7 bankruptcy can stay on your report for 10 years.
If high credit card balances hold your score back, you can see rapid improvement (days to months depending on your creditor’s reporting cycle) once you pay balances down.
How to build credit faster
When you’re trying to rebuild credit, three habits help your credit grow as the months pass:
- Pay every bill on time
- Stay far below your credit limits
- Avoid applying for too much new credit too soon
Start with on-time payments, using automatic payments or reminders.
Avoid carrying balances on your credit cards, and if you do have a balance, it should be as low as possible. Lower utilization helps drive credit scores higher. Keeping credit card balances low is good for your credit score and your wallet, because you also minimize interest charges.
Each application for credit usually generates a hard inquiry when a lender checks your credit. For most people, one inquiry takes less than five points off their FICO Scores. But if you have a limited or poor credit history, an inquiry can take more. A hard inquiry typically stays on your report for two years and affects FICO Scores for 12 months.
If your credit file is thin, meaning it holds few active accounts, three kinds of account can add positive history:
- Become an authorized user. Someone adds you to their credit card, and its limit and payment history can appear on your report. You don’t need to actually use or pay the card. However, the primary borrower’s missed payments or high balance can hurt you too.
- Take out a credit builder loan. The lender holds the loan amount in locked savings while you pay, usually over six to 24 months, and you get the money at the end. Most such lenders report to all three bureaus, though not all do.
- Open a secured credit card. Your deposit sets the credit line, and you can generally build credit with it.
Score stuck after months? Check your reports
Look for errors first, since an error can lower your score.
All three reports are free once a week at AnnualCreditReport.com.
When you check your own credit report, that's a soft inquiry. A soft inquiry doesn't affect your credit scores.
To dispute an error, write to the bureau and to the company that supplied the information. (You can do this online.) Say what's wrong and why, and submit copies of any documents that prove your case.
Both must investigate for free. The bureau has 30 days, or up to 45 if you send more relevant information during those 30 days.
Can you build credit in 30 days?
A FICO Score takes about six months to build from the ground up, so 30 days is too soon to build one for the first time. A VantageScore is possible after about a month of account activity. A score you already have can move every time new information is reported.
Within one reporting cycle, you might be able to raise your score by lowering your credit card balances, becoming an authorized user, and/or disputing an error. The impact depends on your credit profile.
Bills Action Plan
- Get all three credit reports. They're free at AnnualCreditReport.com. A soft inquiry like this doesn't affect your credit scores. Dispute anything that's wrong.
- Get current and stay current. Payment history is the top factor in most credit scores. If you can't catch up, ask your creditors for help. They might re-age your account to bring it current and/or offer a lower payment plan. A nonprofit credit counselor can also help. Start with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, and get any fees in writing.
- Keep balances low and add only accounts that report to credit bureaus. Follow the advice of personal finance experts and pay your credit card balances in full whenever possible.
Key Terms
Credit utilization: The share of your credit limits on credit cards and other credit lines that you're using, based on the balances on your credit report.
Payment history: How you've paid your accounts over time, and 35% of a FICO Score.
Length of credit history: How long your accounts have been open, from oldest to newest and on average.
Original delinquency date: The date of the first payment you missed and never caught up on, also called the date of first delinquency. A late payment's seven years count from this date, and a collection's start 180 days after it.
Collection account: A defaulted debt, usually unpaid at least 120 days, that the creditor turned over to a debt collector.
Authorized user: Someone with a credit card on another person's account, whose history can appear on the authorized user's own report.
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How long does it take to build an 800 credit score from 0?
A climb from no credit to 800 can take years. Your score doesn't start at zero: you have no score until your file holds enough history. A first FICO Score comes after about six months, and 800 and up is FICO's top band, called Exceptional.
How to get a 720 credit score in 6 months
From no credit, six months is about how long it takes just to get a first FICO Score. A first score is generally neither poor nor excellent, and 720 sits in FICO's good range of 670 to 739. If you already have a score, start by checking your reports for errors and disputing any you find. At the earliest, a step that helps your reports can show in your scores 30 to 45 days later, since that's how long lenders generally take to report.