Which factor does NOT typically affect a consumer's credit score?

The factor that does not typically affect a consumer's credit score is ethnic background. Credit scoring models, such as those developed by FICO and VantageScore, rely on objective financial behaviors and data to determine a consumer's creditworthiness. These include aspects such as payment history, length of credit history, credit utilization, types of credit in use, and new credit inquiries.

Each of these factors is tied to financial activity; for example, payment history evaluates whether a consumer has paid their bills on time, and credit utilization measures how much credit is being used compared to the total available credit. Ethnic background, on the other hand, is not a variable considered in credit scoring because it does not provide meaningful insights into an individual's financial behavior or ability to repay debts. Using demographic information like ethnic background would be discriminatory and is against fair lending principles, making it irrelevant to the calculation of a credit score.