Credit scores play a quiet but powerful role in financial life, influencing everything from loan approvals to interest rates and insurance costs. While most people know whether their credit is “good” or “bad,” fewer understand how credit scores are spread across the population. Looking at these score ranges helps put individual credit profiles into context and shows how common, or rare, certain credit situations really are.
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Data for today’s episode is provided by Javelin Strategy & Research’s Report: Evolutions in Secured Cards: Not Ready for Traditional Lenders
Number of People in Various Credit Scoring Segments, in Millions (2025)
- 7.0 – No credit score
- 37.9 – Poor (300-579)
- 39.8 – Fair (580-669)
- 54.5 – Good (670-739)
- 73.4 – Very Good (740-799)
- 61.4 – Exceptional (800-850)
Source: American Banker, FICO
About Report
A new type of fintech payment card is reshaping the traditional secured credit card model. Rather than asking consumers with limited or damaged credit histories to deposit funds as collateral, these products link a credit card directly to a checking-style account. When the card is used, the transaction amount is automatically pulled from the connected deposit account, effectively settling the balance right away. These credit-building cards operate on the Visa and Mastercard networks and are not offered through American Express or Discover, which issue cards directly to consumers.
From a regulatory standpoint, this structure raises open questions. Because payments are automatically covered through the linked deposit account, the cardholder is not actively managing repayment in the same way as with a standard credit card. Financial institutions have also flagged concerns around merchant impact, since transactions are processed over credit card networks with higher interchange fees rather than through debit rails that are subject to stricter pricing limits.