Spinwheel Blog: Credit Scores Are Falling Fast — What It Means for Our Clients and the Future of Debt Management

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Credit Scores Are Falling Fast — What It Means for Our Clients and the Future of Debt Management

Updated

Sep 25, 2025

For the first time since the Great Recession, credit scores are dropping at a pace that has the potential to reshape the financial landscape. According to CNN and CBS News, the national average FICO score has fallen two years in a row, landing at 715 in 2025.

While a two-point drop may sound small, it marks the steepest annual decline since 2009. Behind the numbers lies a worrying reality: delinquencies are rising across credit cards, car loans, and personal loans. And nowhere is the impact more visible than among younger Americans.

One in three Gen Zers carry student loans
Student loan delinquencies have hit a record 29% among 21 million borrowers
Gen Z saw an average three-point score decline, the largest drop of any age group

For over a decade, credit scores rose steadily year after year. That streak ended in 2023, and today we’re looking at a clear trend downward.

What This Means Across Verticals

Marketplaces
Financial marketplaces like NerdWallet and Credit Karma will see fewer users qualifying for prime products. This will push demand toward credit-builder tools and financial wellness offerings. There’s an opportunity here: helping consumers navigate limited options with clarity and transparency.

Personal Financial Management (PFM)
PFM apps have a chance to step up as essential tools. Consumers, especially Gen Z, need proactive alerts, smarter budgeting, and credit health tracking. Apps that go beyond insights and provide actionable guidance will become indispensable.

Lending
Lenders face higher risk and tighter standards. Borrowers will see higher costs and more rejections. Yet this environment accelerates the push toward alternative underwriting models that factor in cash flow, rent payments, and payroll data — making lending more inclusive and flexible.

Spinwheel’s View

At Spinwheel, this crisis is deeply personal. Our co-founder, Tomas Campos, saw how student debt impacted his niece and sister, and how credit turned from a pathway into a barrier. That experience is why we built Spinwheel: a modern platform that improves every aspect of the consumer debt lifecycle.

Credit should unlock opportunity, not shut people out. By enabling apps and services to embed debt management directly into the user journey, Spinwheel helps businesses deliver scalable, innovative solutions that ease the burden of debt.

We bridge the gap between borrowers and the businesses that serve them, creating more access, more choice, and more transparency. The result? Better outcomes for consumers and a healthier financial ecosystem.

The Takeaway

Credit scores are dropping. Risk is rising. For fintech players, the path forward is clear:

Help consumers rebuild
Design for resilience
Deliver solutions that put people first

The companies that do this won’t just capture traffic and market share. They’ll build trust — and drive real, lasting change in how people experience debt.