Why your credit score might be slipping even if you’re doing everything right

The K-shaped economy strikes again. A new report from the Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO), creator of the credit score most lenders use, shows that the average American’s FICO score is now down to 714 – a two point decline over the course of the last year. The current slide in U.S. credit scores began in 2023, when the government ended the temporary pandemic-era freeze on student loan collection. Missed mortgage payments have also ticked up some, contributing to the slide in credit scores. Prior to the latest report, the average American’s credit score had already dropped to 715 between 2024 and 2025, which at the time was the most dramatic decline in scores since the Great Recession took its toll on American borrowers in 2009. There is one bright spot in FICO’s latest report, but like all things in the U.S. economy right now, it’s a mixed bag. The share of Americans with credit scores of 750 and up now sits at 48% – up from just 43% in 2019. The bad news is that the middle has dropped out, as