VantageScore, a national credit-scoring company, released its May 2024 CreditGauge, a monthly analysis highlighting the overall health of U.S. consumer credit. The average VantageScore 4.0 credit score held steady at a healthy 702 for the third consecutive month. The lowest VantageScore 4.0 credit score is 300, while the highest score is 850. Gen Z consumers (born after 1997) and lower-income consumers experienced an uptick in credit card delinquencies, which rose in May 2024 compared to April 2024.

“Among American consumers, the bifurcation in consumer credit health continued, as the younger and less affluent continued to be among the most impacted by continued inflation and high interest rates,” said Susan Fahy, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at VantageScore. “In general, consumers are more disciplined with their finances in the first half of the year, coming off the high credit utilization holiday shopping season. That discipline started to fade in May as some consumers faced rising rents and competing priorities when it comes to meeting debt obligations.”

Key insights for May 2024 CreditGauge include:  

VantageScore Superprime and Subprime credit tiers continued to expand year-over-year. During May 2024, VantageScore’s Superprime credit tier increased by 0.7% to 31.2% and VantageScore’s Subprime credit tier increased by 0.4% to 18.3% compared to May 2023, resulting in the VantageScore Prime credit tier continuing to shrink. In May 2024, the VantageScore Prime credit tier contracted to 33.1% compared to 34.0% in May 2023.  Overall in May 2024, more consumers migrated to very good credit health while relatively fewer others moved into poor credit health. With these moves, the middle tier, VantageScore Prime, continued to be hollowed out.