Gen Z leads biggest drop in FICO scores since financial crisis

By Victor Swezey, Bloomberg News

Gen Z borrowers took the biggest hit of any age group this year, helping pull overall credit scores lower in the worst year for U.S. consumer credit quality since the global financial crisis roiled the world’s economy.

The average FICO score slipped to 715 in April from 717 a year earlier, marking the second consecutive year-over-year drop, according to a report released Tuesday by Fair Isaac Corp. The average score dropped three points to 687 in 2009.

Gen Z borrowers saw the largest drop, not only this year, but of any age group since 2020, with their average score falling three points to 676, the Montana-based creator of the FICO credit score said.

FICO scores are a measure of consumer credit risk and are frequently used by U.S. banks to assess whethe