Credit scores are important.
But they ve also been somewhat of a mystery to borrowers. Credit scores are used by lenders as a model to help them determine the likelihood that a borrower will make timely and consistent payments. The predictive model has held up pretty well. A study by Freddie Mac showed only one in 100 borrowers with high scores above 660 fell behind in their payments. On the other hand, more than one out of three borrowers with scores below 620 were 60 days late on their mortgage payments.