The CEO, founder and financial influencer of Micah Abigail, speaks with Fox News Digital of the silent credit crisis paralyzing finances and how to repair it.
The average American credit rating has slipped to the national level, largely due to the resumption of federal delinquency reports on student loans on American consumer credit reports, according to the FICO.
The rating agency said that the US Fico average score – used as a reference to assess consumer credit risk – fell to 715, marking a drop from a point compared to January and a decrease of two points from April 2024.
The FICO scores, which vary from 300 to 850, fluctuate according to the updates of the behavior of the borrower followed by the three main agencies of American consumer reports: Equifax, Transunion and Experian. These scores are used by banks and lenders to see who they can lend money safely.
The FICO scores fluctuate according to updates to the behavior of the borrower which are followed by the three main agencies of American consumer reports: Equifax, Transunion and Experian. (Istock / Istock)
Hawley exhorts Trump Doj to investigate the Fico for “monopoly” on American credit ratings
Fico regularly publishes the national average score, offering a key overview of the consumer credit state.
According to Fico, the federal delinquencies on student loans were again reported in credit files in February 2025, following the multi -year emergency break on the interest and federal payments of student loans by virtue of the Cares Act and a period of grace “to the ramp” of one year “by the Ministry of Education, which protected federal borrowers Carry out their student loan payments.
The share of consumers with delinquency of more than 90 days in the last six months rose from 7.4% in January to 8.3% in February. This is the first time that this figure has exceeded pre-countryic levels. In January 2020, it was 8.1%, according to Fico.
Purchase risks now, pay later: “Ticket to over-dependent”, says Expert
Tommy Lee, principal director of FICO analyzes and scores, said in a blog post on Wednesday that 2.7 million borrowers had new student loan delinquency reported in February 2025, but around 5.4 million additional consumers did not yet have a deluge for the student loan, even if they have not made any student loan since October 2024, and they still had payments.
The students celebrate during their graduation ceremony. (Istock / Istock)
These borrowers are also likely to have an impact on their credit scoring if they do not make payments, and a new 90 -day student loan delinquency is reported in their credit file. This could lead to more drop in the average FICO score in the coming months, according to Lee.
Compared, approximately 12.4 million borrowers have made at least one payment on their student loan since October 2024 and have been in good position to maintain or improve their credit scoring if they continue to make payment in time.
Get Fox Affairs on the move by clicking here
Fico also indicated that some consumers have also experienced modest improvements in the use of credit, that is to say the total available amount of credit from someone they use. This metric represents 30% of the Fico score.
According to FICO, the average use of credit cards decreased from January to February due to the seasonal reduction in credit card sales after the holidays. This made it possible to partially compensate for the drop in the score, according to the rating agency.
