Credit scores across the U.S. are starting to slip—and for the first time in years, it’s not just a few outliers.
FICO, the company behind one of the most widely used credit scoring models, reports that the national average score has slipped from 717 to 715. That drop may sound small, but it’s a significant trend indicator, especially as more negative data flows into credit reports in the months ahead with the return of student loan reporting—paused since early 2020—hitting many credit files hard.
“Those are now being reported for the first time since March 2020,” said Tommy Lee, senior director of scores and predictive analytics at FICO. “This is really driving the increase in severe delinquencies.”
During the pandemic, missed student loan payments weren’t reported to credit bureaus, allowing many borrowers’ credit scores to actually rise. On average, student loan borrowers gained 11 points between the end of 2019 and the end of 2020. But that trend is reversing fast.
“We expect to see more than nine million student loan borrowers face substantial declines in credit standing over the first quarter of 2025,” researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York wrote in a blog post in March.
The numbers have backed that up. According to the New York Fed’s latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, overall household debt rose by $167 billion in Q1 2025. The most alarming stat was student loan delinquency: it jumped from below 1% to nearly 8% as federal reporting resumed. As the Fed notes, “the delinquency rate for student loans stands out” and may have major implications for borrowers’ future access to credit.
However, your credit score doesn’t have to follow the national trend. It’s more important than ever to make the most of financial tools and platforms that automatically optimize users’ credit scores, analyzing opportunities, adjusting credit usage, and making the small but strategic moves that help you stay ahead.
In a moment where every point counts, credit optimization isn’t just smart—it’s essential.
