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The IRS has released higher federal tax brackets for 2024 to adjust for inflation.
The standard deduction is increasing to $29,200 for married couples filing together and $14,600 for single taxpayers.
There are also changes to the alternative minimum tax, estate tax exemption, earned income tax credit and flexible spending account limits, among others.

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The IRS on Thursday announced higher federal income tax brackets and standard deductions for 2024.
The agency has boosted the income thresholds for each bracket, applying to tax year 2024 for returns filed in 2025. For 2024, the top rate of 37% applies to individuals with taxable income above $609,350 and married couples filing jointly earning $731,200.

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Federal income brackets show how much you’ll owe on each portion of your “taxable income,” calculated by subtracting the greater of the standard or itemized deductions from your adjusted gross income.

Higher standard deduction

The standard deduction will also increase in 2024, rising to $29,200 for married couples filing jointly, up from $27,700 in 2023. Single filers may claim $14,600, an increase from $13,850.

Adjustments for other tax provisions

The IRS also boosted figures for dozens of other provisions, such as the alternative minimum tax, a parallel system for higher earners and the estate tax exemption for wealthy families.
There’s also a higher earned income tax credit, bumping the write-off to a maximum of $7,830 for low- to moderate-income filers. And employees can funnel $3,200 into health flexible spending accounts.
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Consumers should “economize” their budgets, pay down debt and save even a little more money to boost personal finances in 2024, said Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board.
The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates aggressively to rein in pandemic-era inflation. That has raised borrowing costs significantly.
However, it has also increased the rate consumers can get on their cash.

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Heading into 2024, consumers should “economize” their budgets, pay down debt and save money, if possible, to boost their personal finances, Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board, said Thursday at CNBC’s Your Money event.
This “three-point action plan” is important for households since there’s “a high risk of recession” in 2024, probably in the first half of the year, Peterson said.

However, that recession likely wouldn’t last long: It would end in the second half of the year, she estimated.

1. Budgeting

Consumers can “economize” by looking at their weekly budgets and trimming expenses where possible, Peterson said.
That might include buying store-branded rather than brand-name items at the grocery store or at clothing retailers, or shifting to different types of entertainment, like streaming movies at home instead of going out to the movie theater, for example, she added.

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Pandemic-era inflation ate into household budgets at the fastest pace in 40 years. While it has fallen significantly from its peak in summer 2022, inflation likely won’t fully retreat to its target level around 2% until sometime next year, Peterson said.
“Everything, just about, is very expensive,” she said.

2. Pay down debt

The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates aggressively to rein in inflation. That has dramatically increased borrowing costs for households, for everything from mortgages to auto loans, student loans and credit card debt.

For example, average credit card rates — known as annual percentage rate, or APR — are at all-time highs, over 20%.
Put any extra money toward paying down debt, Peterson said. Financial experts generally recommend prioritizing the highest-interest debt first, and paying bills on time and in full each month, if possible.

3. Save if you can

Even if consumers don’t much disposable income to save, “every dollar counts,” Peterson said.
For those with a 401(k) plan at work, financial advisors generally recommend first saving enough to get their full company match, which is essentially free money.

Then, consumers might consider building an emergency fund, health savings account (if they have access at work) or individual retirement account, for example. (However, those with high-interest loans should generally prioritize paying down that debt after saving enough for their 401(k) match, experts say.)
One benefit of high interest rates: Savers are getting higher rates on cash than they’ve seen in decades.   More

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The APR is the interest rate or cost you pay yearly to borrow money for the purchase — and card rates are now near record highs.
Store or retail cards have the highest interest rates.
Buy now, pay later plans generally don’t charge interest, but they do levy late fees.

Feeling the pressure of inflation and rising interest rates over the past few months, an increasing number of consumers have been making credit card payments 30 days late or more, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit.
That climbing “credit card delinquencies” rate may trend higher this holiday season. Typically, it’s at the end of the year when more consumers start to pay late.

Knowing what the words “credit card delinquencies” mean is important because being delinquent or late with card payments can lower your credit score. That lower score can affect the interest rate you pay on mortgages, auto and private loans, the cost of insurance premiums and even your ability to land some jobs.   

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With so many different ways to pay for purchases with credit, “knowing your words” — especially regarding your personal finances — is more important than ever as you shop for gifts for family and friends this holiday season.
Here are three terms that you should familiarize yourself with: 

1. Annual percentage rate (APR)

If you’re paying for holiday purchases with a credit card, you should know the annual percentage rate, or APR, on it before you buy. The APR is the interest rate or cost you pay yearly to borrow money for the purchase — and card rates are now near record highs. The average APR on a credit card is more than 21%, according to Bankrate, and nearly 30% for retail store credit cards. 
“Holiday shoppers need to know that the APR on that store credit card that you may be tempted to buy is going to be crazy high,” said Matt Schulz, LendingTree chief credit analyst. A LendingTree survey of 100 cards found some retail cards can have interest rates as high as 35%. 

2. 0% APR card

The best way to borrow is to pay no interest at all, and you can do that if you are able to get a 0% APR card. This means you’ll pay no interest for a certain period of time for the ability to borrow money to make purchases.
The best 0% APR cards will allow you to pay no interest for up to 21 months, so you may not have to pay interest charges on purchases made now until August 2025. Pay close attention to when that 0% interest period will end, because when it does, the rate will spike up to the national average — or higher — and as rates continue to rise, that could mean you’ll pay 25% in interest charges or more.

3. Buy now, pay later (BNPL)

Buy now, pay later plans are another popular way to finance holiday purchases that are now offered by most major retailers as well as by app-based lenders. Affirm, Apple Pay Later and Klarna are among the most popular BNPL apps.
In the finance industry, BNPL products are also called point-of-sale installment loans.

Here’s how the plans work: You can make purchases and pay for them over time after an upfront initial payment. BNPL plans generally don’t charge interest, which makes them an attractive alternative to credit cards. But they may charge a fee — of up to $15 — especially if you miss a payment. 
“The issue with those is that it can be really easy to get and that can lead to more overspending,” cautioned LendingTree’s Matt Schulz. “You only have that short window of time to pay it off as an installment loan, as opposed to with a credit card where you have a little more flexibility on the actual payments that you make.”
— CNBC’s Stephanie Dhue contributed to this article.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

ETF Strategist

Whether you’re starting to invest or nearing retirement, there are several ways to use exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, to achieve your financial goals.
You can leverage ETFs via dollar-cost averaging, when choosing your asset allocation or a buy-and-hold strategy.
“It’s a quick way to get instant market exposure at a really low cost,” said certified financial planner Ben Smith, founder of Cove Financial Planning.

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Whether you’re starting to invest or nearing retirement, there are several ways to use exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, to achieve your financial goals, experts say.
An ETF is like a basket of individual assets, such as stocks or bonds, with shares that trade on an exchange throughout the day. Generally, ETFs are cheaper than mutual funds, with average fees of 0.17%, compared with 0.44% for mutual funds, according to Morningstar Direct.

“It’s a quick way to get instant market exposure at a really low cost,” said certified financial planner Ben Smith, founder of Cove Financial Planning in Milwaukee, noting that ETFs can be bought or sold like a stock.
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Here’s how to leverage ETFs with three popular investing strategies.

1. Dollar-cost averaging

If you’re nervous about stock market volatility, some experts suggest dollar-cost averaging, which is investing a set amount of money at regular intervals, regardless of market activity. One example is automatically contributing to your 401(k) every pay period.

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“ETFs make things really easy,” said CFP Michael Nemick, co-founder of Thrive Retirement Specialists in Dearborn, Michigan. “It’s reduced the complexity that used to be involved with managing a broad portfolio of investments.”

Some ETFs represent hundreds or thousands of stocks “in a nice wrapper,” making it easy to dollar-cost average every month with two or three trades, versus hundreds or thousands, to achieve a diversified portfolio, he said.

2. Asset allocation

ETFs can also be bought or sold quickly to reach your asset allocation, or target mix of investments, which can be compared with building blocks in your portfolio.
Smith said ETFs are an “efficient and low-cost” way to plug different asset classes — such as stocks and bonds — into your allocation, depending on your financial goals. These can be adjusted periodically, known as rebalancing, based on stock market changes and your original asset allocation.

For some new clients, adjustments could involve simplifying “a hodgepodge” of individual stocks and mutual funds into a single broad market ETF, said Nemick. “When things are simple and transparent, it makes it a lot easier moving forward.”

3. Buy and hold

For long-term investors, advisors typically recommend a “buy-and-hold” strategy, regardless of market fluctuations. “You really don’t want to touch that investment portfolio,” Smith said, noting “you have to keep the blinders on” when the market is down.
Experts say tax efficiency makes ETFs well suited to buy and hold. ETFs are typically more tax-friendly than mutual funds because financial institutions can swap the underlying assets for others, known as an “in-kind” trade, which doesn’t trigger capital gains for investors.
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Year-end Planning

This is the time of year when most companies hold their open enrollment periods, during which employees decide on their benefits for the next 12 months.
Many people mistakenly assume they don’t need to make changes from their last selections, said Jonathan Gruber, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“But every year, there may be new choices available – as well as changes in your circumstances,” Gruber said. “Take the time to revisit these decisions. The consequences could be very large savings.”

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This is the time of year when most companies hold their open enrollment periods, during which employees decide on their benefits for the next 12 months.
You’ll likely have a window of just a few weeks to review health insurance plans, allocate your savings and review a host of other options, including disability insurance and spending accounts.

Many people mistakenly assume they don’t need to make changes from their selections the year prior, said Jonathan Gruber, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former president of the American Society of Health Economists
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“But every year, there may be new choices available – as well as changes in your circumstances,” Gruber said. “Take the time to revisit these decisions.
“The consequences could be very large savings,” he added.
Here are the four key steps to take at your workplace’s open enrollment, according to experts.

Open-enrollment workplace checklist

Health insurance

Savings and spending accounts

Dental and vision plans

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Retirement savings

Beneficiary selection

1. Compare medical, dental and vision plan options

Typically, employees are presented with two medical insurance plan options: one with a higher monthly cost (known as your premium) and a lower deductible (the amount you’ll have to shell out before your employer’s plan kicks in), and another option where it is the other way around, with you paying less each month but required to hit a higher number before your coverage begins.
If you are completely healthy and only go to the doctor, say, once a year for a check-up, you might want to opt for the so-called high-deductible plan with the lower monthly cost. So-called preventative services, like wellness checks and certain immunizations, should be free whether or not you’ve hit your deductible, said Caitlin Donovan, a spokesperson for the National Patient Advocate Foundation.
Gruber said that in many cases, “a high-deductible plan will be a better deal because premiums are so much lower.”
On the other hand, paying a higher premium up front will give you more certainty about your out-of-pocket costs during the year, particularly if you end up needing to visit a hospital, said Jean Abraham, a health economist at the University of Minnesota. If you have an illness, want to visit multiple doctors or try different treatments in 2024, it may be preferable to have a lower deductible you can hit so that you can then take greater advantage of your workplace’s coverage.

The Warby Parker store in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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“There are clear trade-offs,” Abraham said. “Individuals differ in their risk preferences.”
You’ll need to look beyond your premium and deducible to know what your annual health-care costs will be under different plans, Donovan said.
Consider also the plan’s coinsurance rate, which is the share you’ll be on the hook for even after your deductible is met on covered services, and what your co-payments will be. Many plans also have multiple deductibles, including one for in-network services and another for out-of-network care.
Meanwhile, some employees may find their household size has changed since their last open-enrollment period, and that they can or need to add someone to their plan. If your spouse has their own health insurance option at work, you’ll want to both sit down and compare the different offerings.
“Financially, it may take some number-crunching,” Donovan said. “You want to evaluate the different premiums, deductibles and copays.

Every year there may be new choices available – as well as changes in your circumstances.

Jonathan Gruber
economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

“It’s even possible the less expensive option is to each be on their own plan.”
Make sure to know exactly how much your costs will rise by adding another person to your plan. For example, some employers will extend their coverage to a domestic partner, or someone who lives with you but to whom you’re not married. But in addition to a higher premium and deductible, the benefit for a domestic partner will likely trigger a larger tax bill for you because the coverage is counted as additional income by the IRS.
Some companies will also add a surcharge to your coverage if you add a spouse who has their own workplace health insurance available to them.
Many employees will notice that the health insurance plans offered by their company don’t include dental and vision coverage. Instead, these coverage areas will pop up as separate options with their own price tags.

You’ll want to read the benefit details and “do some rough math” to see how much you’ll save by having the coverage versus paying full price at the dentist or eye doctor, said Louise Norris, a health policy analyst at Healthinsurance.org.
It’s especially important to pay attention to the maximum benefit the plan will provide, Norris said. If the ceiling is low, it may be worth paying out of pocket.
Still, even if the plan won’t save you a significant amount of money, she added, “it might be worth enrolling if you know that having the benefit will be the motivation you need to make your regular dental and optometry appointments.”

2. Consider life, disability insurance

During open enrollment, employees will typically also be presented with different disability and life insurance options.
“Everyone should take the free life insurance their company offers,” said Carolyn McClanahan, a physician, certified financial planner and founder of Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida. (That benefit is usually a multiple of your salary.)
However, McClanahan said, “If a person has any dependents that count on their income, this probably isn’t enough.”
Although many employers provide the opportunity to buy additional life insurance, “if a person is healthy, it is often cheaper to buy term insurance on the open market instead,” said McClanahan, who is a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.
“Also, you won’t lose your insurance when you leave employment,” she added.

partial view of young woman
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If you are unhealthy, your life insurance through your employer may be all you qualify for, McClanahan said. In which case, she said, “be sure to accept it and buy as much as you can.”
Disability insurance is also important, McClanahan said: “If your employer offers it, you should definitely take it.” More than 42 million Americans have a disability, according to the Pew Research Center.
Short-term disability coverage is very limited, she said: “Everyone needs long-term disability coverage unless they have enough savings that they could basically retire if they can’t work anymore.”
Your employer disability coverage may not be enough to support you should you become disabled, and so you should also consider an individual disability policy to supplement your work policy, McClanahan said.

3. Take advantage of savings, spending accounts

Your employer may offer savings and spending accounts that can reduce your taxes and help you to afford your health-care expenses for the year, experts say.
During open enrollment, you can opt to put up to around $3,000 into a flexible spending account, for example. Your contribution will be deducted from your paychecks (and later, your gross income, which can lower your tax bill). But at the start of the year you should have the full amount to you available for deductibles, copayments, coinsurance and some drugs. (There is also a dependent care FSA, which you can use to pay for eligible dependent care expenses, including costs for children 12 and younger.)

Health savings accounts have a triple tax benefit.

Carolyn McClanahan
founder of Life Planning Partners

Financial experts speak especially highly of health savings accounts, or HSAs.
“Health savings accounts have a triple tax benefit – you get a tax deduction when you put the money in, the money gets to grow tax free for health care, and you can take it out tax free for any health-care expenses,” McClanahan said.
If you can pay for your health expenses out of pocket during the year, she said, you can let that money grow tax-free throughout your career and use it in retirement, she added.
Not all workers qualify for an HSA. To be eligible, you need to be enrolled in a high-deductible plan, among other requirements.

4. Evaluate your retirement savings

Unlike with the previous options, you can usually make changes to your retirement savings throughout the year.
Still, the benefit season is a chance to check in with your nest egg, experts say.
“Open enrollment can be a natural time to pause and look at your whole picture,” said Ryan Viktorin, a CFP, vice present and financial consultant at Fidelity Investments.
People should generally be saving at least 15% of their pre-tax income each year for retirement, Viktorin said. (That includes your employer match, if you have access to one.)

Viktorin said she recommends people have at least one year of their annual salary saved by age 30, and six times their annual income by 50.
If these numbers are intimidating, focus on how powerful even small increases to your savings rate can be.
For example, a 35-year-old earning $60,000 a year who ups their retirement saving contribution by just 1% (or less than $12 a week), could generate an additional $110,000 by retirement, assuming a 7% annual return, according to an example by Fidelity.
If your company offers a match to your savings, try your hardest to save at least up to that amount. Otherwise your forfeiting free money, and all the compounding of that additional savings over time.
Before you wrap up your open enrollment, make sure you have beneficiaries listed on your life insurance and retirement savings accounts. More

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Gen Z and millennial adults are having a hard time achieving the same milestones their parents did when they first ventured out into the workforce, such as finding a job, getting promoted or buying a house.
“This is purely a snapshot of what young people perceive their lives to be like compared to their parents,” said Cyrus Beschloss, founder of Generation Lab.
While these opportunities may not lead to the type of stability that might let you buy a house, certain “glimmers of optimism” stand out.

Young woman talking to parents.
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Gen Z and millennial adults are having a hard time achieving the same milestones their parents did when they first ventured out into the workforce.
For instance, 55% of young adult respondents find it is “much harder” to purchase a home, 44% said it is harder to find a job and 55% said it is harder to get promoted, according to a Youth & Money in the USA poll by CNBC and Generation Lab.

The survey polled 1,039 people between ages 18 and 34 across the U.S. from Oct. 25 to Oct. 30.
“This is purely a snapshot of what young people perceive their lives to be like compared to their parents,” said Cyrus Beschloss, founder of Generation Lab, an organization that built the largest respondent database of young people in America.

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On the plus side, the poll found that 40% of Gen Zers and millennials say it’s easier for them to find economic opportunities outside of traditional employment.
The nature of work was changing even before the Covid-19 pandemic, said certified financial planner Blair duQuesnay, lead advisor at Ritholtz Wealth Management in New Orleans.
“The baby-boom generation went to work for a corporation and, for a lot [of] cases, stayed in one job for their entire career and retired with a pension — that doesn’t exist anymore,” said duQuesnay, who is also a CNBC Financial Advisor Council member.

While those opportunities may not lead to the type of stability that will allow young adults to buy a house, certain “glimmers of optimism” stand out, “in spite of pessimism about the nation and the world,” added Beschloss.

‘Glimmers of optimism’

About 50% believe inflation will affect their future financial well-being very negatively, according to the Youth & Money in the USA poll. However, this could be a response to the current economic landscape.
“Inflation has been the biggest narrative in the media over the past year or so,” said CFP Douglas A. Boneparth, president and founder of Bone Fide Wealth in New York. “We are bombarded with headlines about inflation, and we see inflation when we check out at the grocery store.”
On the positive side, Beschloss at Generation Lab said there is “hope in this data.”
For instance, student loan debt is not causing 65% of Gen Zers and millennials to delay major life decisions such as getting married, starting a family or buying a home, the report found.
To that point, 68% of respondents believe they have less than $20,000 in outstanding debt, including credit cards and student loans, which is “promising to hear,” said duQuesnay.
Additionally, contrary to popular belief, a majority, 43%, of younger workers feel quite loyal to their employers.
“We have this perception of the Gen Z worker sort of cynically trudging into work, cashing the paycheck so they can have a good quality of life and ‘quiet quit’ and do all these other things,” Beschloss said.
While such loyalty among younger workers may be “shocking,” it goes to show that employers “have gone out of their way to increase employee morale,” said duQuesnay.

Gen Z, millennials and the stock market

The majority of polled young people, or 63%, believe the stock market is a good place to build wealth and invest. However, since Gen Zers and millennials have seen wealth and financial stability “get rocked by some sort of macroeconomic earthquake,” according to Beschloss — 37% of them believe otherwise.
The distrust in the stock market can be linked to younger adults’ upbringing, which may have “blazed a huge crater in their brain when it comes to their confidence in the stock market,” he added.
“Experiencing the financial crisis in 2008 as a child is probably a very formative experience,” said duQuesnay. “I’ve spoken to Gen Z investors who remember their parents losing their job or losing their house.”
Additionally, the birth and rise of cryptocurrency pose as an “opt-out of traditional financial systems,” added Boneparth, who is also a CNBC FA Council member.
It will take time for younger investors to see compounded returns in the stock market, especially as those who joined in 2021 may have quickly saw those gains erased by a bear market in 2022, added duQuesnay.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

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Collectively, Americans now owe $1.08 trillion on their credit cards, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Steadily, persistently higher prices have caused consumers to spend down their savings and increasingly turn to credit cards to make ends meet.
At the same time, credit cards are one of the most expensive ways to borrow money. 

Americans now owe $1.08 trillion on their credit cards, according to a new report on household debt from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Credit card balances spiked by $154 billion year over year, notching the largest increase since 1999, the New York Fed found.

“Credit card balances experienced a large jump in the third quarter, consistent with strong consumer spending and real GDP growth,” said Donghoon Lee, the New York Fed’s economic research advisor.

Credit card delinquency rates also rose across the board, according to the New York Fed, but especially among millennials, or borrowers between the ages of 30 and 39, who are burdened by high levels of student loan debt.
With most people feeling strained by higher prices — particularly for food, gas and housing — more cardholders are carrying debt from month to month or falling behind on payments, and a greater percentage of balances are going more than 180 days delinquent, according to a separate report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Nearly one-tenth of credit card users find themselves in “persistent debt” where they are charged more in interest and fees each year than they pay toward the principal — a pattern that is increasingly difficult to break, the consumer watchdog said.
“It’s a big deal,” said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate. “Your credit card is probably your highest cost debt by a wide margin.”

Credit card rates top 20%

Credit card rates were already high but have recently spiked along with the Federal Reserve’s string of 11 rate hikes, including four in 2023.
Since most credit cards have a variable rate, there’s a direct connection to the Fed’s benchmark. As the federal funds rate rose, the prime rate did, as well, and credit card rates followed suit.
The average annual percentage rate is now more than 20% — also an all-time high.

Paying for food and drinks at a cafe is made easy with credit cards.
Olga Rolenko | Moment | Getty Images

Why credit card debt keeps rising

Despite the steep cost, consumers often turn to credit cards, in part because they are more accessible than other types of loans, according to Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree. But that comes at the expense of other long-term financial goals, he added.
“That’s money that doesn’t go to a college fund or down payment on a home purchase or Roth IRA,” he said.
Up until recently, most Americans benefited from a few government-supplied safety nets, most notably the large injection of stimulus money, which left many households sitting on a stockpile of cash that enabled some cardholders to keep their credit card balances in check.
But that cash reserve is largely gone after consumers gradually spent down their excess savings from the Covid-19 pandemic years.

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Now, “consumers are maintaining and supporting their lifestyles using credit card debt,” said Howard Dvorkin, a certified public accountant and the chairman of Debt.com.
“It has been a struggle,” said Adriana Cubillo, 25, of Modesto, California. “My rent is going up, so even though all my bills are paid, sometimes I’m living paycheck to paycheck.”
Still, consumer credit scores have remained high, helped by a strong labor market and cooling inflation, along with the removal of certain medical collections data from consumer credit files, recent reports show.

What to do if you’re in credit card debt

If you’re carrying a balance, try calling your card issuer to ask for a lower rate, consolidate and pay off high-interest credit cards with a lower interest home equity loan or personal loan or switch to an interest-free balance transfer credit card, Schulz advised.
To optimize the benefits of their credit card, consumers should regularly compare credit card offers, pay as much of their balance as they can as soon as they can and avoid paying their bill late, said Mike Townsend, a spokesperson for the American Bankers Association.
“Any credit card holder who finds themselves in financial stress should always contact their card issuer to make them aware of their situation,” Townsend said. “They may be eligible for some relief or assistance depending on their individual circumstances.”
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Consumer credit scores held steady in September for the third consecutive month, averaging 701, according to VantageScore.
Credit scores are used by lenders to assess both a borrower’s ability to repay and what interest rate they will charge.
A score below 660 is considered subprime.

While Americans’ credit card debt levels have reached a record high of more than $1 trillion, their overall credit health has remained strong, according to a report from credit scoring company VantageScore. 
Even with inflation, rising interest rates and concern about the overall economy, U.S. consumers still have room to spend.

“The consumer is not maxed out; they’re actually reducing their overall credit and managing credit pretty well,” VantageScore CEO Silvio Tavares told CNBC in a recent exclusive interview. “The reality is the consumer is actually quite healthy.”

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Despite that $1 trillion credit card debt benchmark, the average VantageScore credit score held steady in September for the third consecutive month at 701, up four points from the same month last year.
Meanwhile, the national average FICO credit score rose two points from a year ago to reach a new high of 718, according to its latest report.
Both scoring models use a numerical range of 300 to 850.

These credit scoring models and others use consumer data from the three main credit bureaus — TransUnion, Experian and Equifax — to come up with credit scores. That number is key to helping financial institutions determine what credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, and personal loans consumers qualify for —and at what rates.

“Typically consumers that have a VantageScore of 660 or above are eligible for the best rates,” Tavares said. “So that’s really the sweet spot.
“That’s where you want to get to, and that makes you eligible for the best interest rates in a rising interest rate environment,” he added.
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