My FICO logo $$$$$$$$$$$ 9876 5432 1234 5678 CREDIT CARD KELLY SMITH 11/26 My FICO logo
SCORE
Skip Navigation
  • Why FICO
  • How It Works
  • Pricing
  • Education
  • Community
  • Support
  • Member Dashboard
  • Log In Log Out
  • Start Plan
 
  • Why FICO
  • How It Works
  • Pricing
  •  
  • Education
    • Credit Education
    • Credit Scores
    • What Is a FICO Score?
    • FICO Scores vs Credit Scores
    • FICO Scores Versions
    • New FICO Scores
    • How Scores Are Calculated
    • Payment History
    • Amount of Debt
    • Length of Credit History
    • Credit Mix
    • New Credit
    • How to Improve Your Score
    • How to Build Credit
    • Credit and Financial Counseling
    • Credit Reports
    • What's in Your Report
    • Credit Bureaus
    • Inquiries
    • Errors on Your Report?
    • Blog
    • Calculators
    • Loan Savings
    • Vehicle Payments
    • How Much Can I Borrow?
    • Should I Consolidate My Credit Cards?
    • Know Your Rights
    • Identity Theft
    • FAQ
    • Glossary
  • Community
  • Support
  • Member Dashboard
  • Log In Log Out
  • Our Products
    • Ongoing Credit Monitoring Track your FICO® Score & identity
    • One-time Credit Reports Be prepared for important transactions
  • How Can We Help
    • Monitor Credit & Identity
    • Mortgages
    • Credit Cards
    • Auto Loans
  • Credit Education
  • Community
  • Support
  • Our Products
    • Ongoing Credit Monitoring Track your FICO® Score & identity
    • One-time Credit Reports Be prepared for important transactions
  • Credit Education
  • Credit Scores
    • What Is a FICO Score?
    • FICO Scores vs Credit Scores
    • FICO Score Versions
    • New FICO Scores
    • How Scores Are Calculated
    • Payment History
    • Amount of Debt
    • Length of Credit History
    • Credit Mix
    • New Credit
    • How to Improve Your Score
    • How to Build Credit
    • Credit and Financial Counseling
  • Credit Reports
    • What's in Your Report
    • Credit Bureaus
    • Inquiries
    • Errors on Your Report?
  • Blog
  • Calculators
    • Loan Savings
    • Vehicle Payments
    • How Much Can I Borrow?
    • Should I Consolidate My Credit Cards?
  • Know Your Rights
  • Identity Theft
  • FAQ
  • Glossary

Estimate your FICO® Score range

Answer 10 easy questions to get a free estimate of your FICO® Score range

Estimate for Free

Get your FICO® Score for free

90% of top lenders use FICO® Scores

Get Access Now
No credit card required
View all Credit News & Current Events articles

Protecting Your Credit During the Coronavirus Outbreak

March 13, 2020, by Tom Quinn

As the number of coronavirus cases spreads, it is also having negative impact on the financial health of the economy at large and the economic well-being of individuals across the United States. The unusual nature of this pandemic has resulted in the temporary closing of schools, cancellation of events and the disruption of the distribution of goods and services that may have the unintended consequence of impacting some people's ability to pay bills on time.

If you are one of these impacted consumers you may be wondering:

  • What will happen if I miss payments on my credit cards and loans?

  • How might the decisions I make affect my credit rating and access to credit in the future?

These are important questions to consider because your FICO® Scores influence the credit available to you as well as the terms, such as interest rates and amount of credit extended.  To be clear, medical conditions or diseases are not considered by FICO Scores and will not directly impact a FICO Score.  However, the potential financial "fall out" of missing a payment, charging credit cards up to and over their limit or opening several new credit accounts over a short period of time can have a negative impact on the scores.

So, what should you do to help yourself and monitor changes to your FICO® Scores if your financial situation has been impacted by coronavirus?

Before bill payments are due, you should contact your bank and other creditors as soon as possible to make them aware of your situation. Your lender will likely have procedures in place to work with customers impacted by this unique health emergency. In fact, several federal and state regulators have already issued guidance to lenders encouraging financial institutions to work constructively with affected consumers, small business owners and communities.

For example, your lenders may work with you to increase your available credit or to set up a deferred payment plan, or temporarily place the loan in forbearance (meaning you may get temporary relief from having to make full payments on your credit obligations). The placement and reporting of an account in forbearance or a deferred payment plan in and of itself does not negatively impact a FICO Score. This holds true with all versions of the FICO Scores.

Keep in mind, your prior history of payments will continue to be considered in the calculation of your FICO Scores. So too will other information that your lender regularly updates on the account, such as current balance and payment status. As such, you may want to also check with your lender on how they intend to report these fields while the account is in forbearance or a deferred payment plan. For example, does your lender plan to report the payment status of your account as 'current' (i.e. 'paid as agreed') during the forbearance period?

Each lender is likely to have their own unique policies, so if you have loans from different financial institutions, you may want to contact each of them to cover all of your bases.

Check out this FICO Score checklist we put together to prepare for the coronavirus.

Image of Tom Quinn, Vice President of Business Development at myFICO.

Tom Quinn

Tom Quinn is the Vice President of Business Development for myFICO and has over 25 years of experience working with consumers, regulators, and lenders regarding credit related questions and initiatives.

Estimate your FICO® Score range

Answer 10 easy questions to get a free estimate of your FICO® Score range

Estimate for Free

Get your FICO® Score for free

90% of top lenders use FICO® Scores

Get Access Now
No credit card required

Page footer

Products

  • Home
  • Why FICO
  • How It Works
  • Pricing

Learn

  • Education
  • Community
  • Support
  • Blog

Company

  • About Us
  • Terms of Use
  • Cookie Preferences
  • Privacy Policy
  • Affiliate Program
  • Accessibility

Get Our App

  • Download iOS app on the App Store
  • fil_get
    Get Android app on the Google Play Store

Follow Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Credit Education

  • Credit scores
  • What is a FICO Score?
  • FICO Score versions
  • How scores are calculated
  • Payment history
  • Amount of debt
  • Length of credit history
  • Credit mix
  • New credit
  • Credit reports
  • What's in your report
  • Bureaus
  • Inquiries
  • Errors on your report?
  • Calculators
  • Know your rights
  • Identity theft
  • FAQ
  • Glossary

Copyright ©2001- Fair Isaac Corporation. All rights reserved.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

All FICO® Score products made available on myFICO.com include a FICO® Score 8, and may include additional FICO® Score versions. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO® Score than the versions you receive from myFICO, or another type of credit score altogether. Learn more

FICO, myFICO, Score Watch, The score lenders use, and The Score That Matters are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation. Equifax Credit Report is a trademark of Equifax, Inc. and its affiliated companies. Many factors affect your FICO Scores and the interest rates you may receive. Fair Isaac is not a credit repair organization as defined under federal or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Fair Isaac does not provide "credit repair" services or advice or assistance regarding "rebuilding" or "improving" your credit record, credit history or credit rating. FTC's website on credit.