For established trucking owner-operators, and even those eyeing going into business for themselves for the first time, having good credit means a lot more than just a decent FICO score. Good credit in trucking is like good credit anywhere -- paying your bills on time, for a long time, builds a sturdy reputation, just like developing relationships with brokers and shippers would.
A recent poll of Overdrive readers shows that most in our audience don't have a problem with credit scores -- 58% reported a score above 750, and just less than a quarter at 700 or under, or unsure. (Credit scores typically range from 300 at the low end to around 850 for a near-spotless record.)
TopMark Funding, a truck financing company, wrote about a 2020 version of this Overdrive poll, and basically bashed it as unscientific (we never claimed we were). The group analyzed 2019 data on funded commercial vehicle financing transactions and found that the average credit score stood at 677. They also found "three times as many total applications below 677 than at or above 677." Those below 677 have a third the chance of actually finding funding anywhere than those above.
Among the total U.S. population, according to 2022 data published credit reporting bureau Experian, the average credit score in the U.S. sits at 714, up from 703 in 2019. Overdrive readers also reported generally higher credit scores since then, with bigger percentages in the 2023 polling indicating scores in higher ranges. Maybe some of that pandemic stimulus went to paying down old debt.
But credit history takes on a new importance in a landscape of rapidly rising interest rates, as has been the case for the last year. A higher credit score can mean a lower interest rate when searching for financing on a truck, a home or just about anything you'd finance.
The FICO company's scores are derived from five areas of credit activity, which themselves are from records from the three major reporting bureaus. How they weigh each area is shown in the image here.
