Understanding the components that makeup credit scores can help you wisely manage your credit decisions. To see how it all breaks down, here’s an example of how scores are calculated with a popular algorithm. Your payment history makes up 35% of your score, while the amount you owe lenders represents 30%. The length of your credit history contributes 15%, and the types of credit accounts you maintain comprise 10%. Finally, new credit accounts are responsible for 10%. All of these values are then broken down into a credit score, which ranges between 300 and 850—the higher the number the better.