Health care, housing, and access to credit all share a common thread: affordability depends heavily on sound financial behavior.

The solution: The FICO® Score plays an integral role in promoting affordability for consumers when they open a credit card, buy a car or purchase their first home.

• When Americans apply for a loan, more than 90% of top U.S. lenders use the FICO® Score to decide whether to approve the loan and what terms to offer.

The credit score helps lenders determine:

• How likely someone is to repay a loan.
• How much a consumer can borrow.
• The interest rate they will pay.

A strong credit score can save borrowers thousands of dollars in interest and fees, with lenders more likely to extend lower rates to applicants with sound financial behavior.

Okay, but: It's not just having a higher score at the individual consumer level that makes loans more affordable. Differences in the accuracy of different credit scoring models flow through the entire economy.

That's where the immense predictive power of the FICO® Score comes into play. When lenders can better assess risk, they can extend credit more confidently to qualified borrowers at competitive rates.

• When investors can precisely evaluate large pools of loans, from credit cards to auto loans to mortgages, they can keep liquidity flowing through the financial system.

Why it's important: The link between credit scoring accuracy and consumer affordability is direct.

• More accurate scores lead to more lending and investments.
• More lending leads to more borrowers qualifying.
• More qualified borrowers mean more Americans can access credit to make major purchases, like cars and homes.

The result: The pathway from credit scoring innovation to consumer affordability is direct and measurable, creating a win for consumers, lenders, investors and the economy.

The FICO® Score has been the trusted industry standard chosen by lenders for over three decades, designed to assess creditworthiness in a way that is fair to both lenders and consumers. But FICO doesn't rest on this legacy.

Looking ahead: FICO continues to incorporate new data sources to give a more complete picture of borrowers' credit histories.

The newest flagship model, FICO® Score 10T, includes:

• Rental payment data.
• Trended credit bureau data tracking how credit behavior changes over time.

More than 50 mortgage lenders have already adopted FICO® Score 10T for its superior predictive power, helping them originate more home loans without additional credit risk.

Next steps: Continuing to strengthen the link between accurate credit scores and consumer affordability relies on:

1. Rental data: Newer credit scores incorporate rental payment history for consumers when it is reported to the credit bureaus.

• However, a major barrier is the limited availability of rental data at the credit bureaus. Of roughly 77 million U.S. adults in rental housing, only 3.5% have a rental tradeline in their credit file.

2. Credit education: FICO provides tools and resources to help consumers understand and improve their credit.

• FICO's Score a Better Future program offers free workshops led by FICO staff on how credit scores work and how to build credit.

The takeaway: As FICO continues to drive more predictive score innovation, lenders gain the confidence to extend credit to more qualified borrowers, investors deliver the capital that keeps credit flowing, and consumers unlock savings across mortgages, auto loans and everyday financial products.

Learn more.