Is It Possible to Achieve a Perfect Credit Score? - Guy and the Blog (2024)

Good Credit is Important

Once you really get into the habit of monitoring and working on your credit, it can be fun to wonder just how high you’ll be able to get your score to climb one day. Is there such a thing as a perfect credit score, and does anyone actually have one? How hard is it to actually achieve the highest credit score, and what kind of advantages would come with it if you actually managed it? The fact of the matter is a perfect credit score is pretty difficult to achieve and even harder to maintain, but it’s not an impossible goal to reach. The following tips and information can give you the best possible chance of achieving it for yourself one day.

What Is the Highest Credit Score?

According to most models, the highest possible credit score a person can achieve is 850. However, the circ*mstances of that person’s life and financial situation pretty much need to be and stay perfect in order to maintain that score, and that’s just not something that happens very often. No bank, lender, or financial entity is actually going to require a person to have a score that’s literally spotless for that reason. The official FICO credit score categories can be broken down as follows. Use them as a guideline as you continue to build, polish, and maintain your credit.

• A score of 800 or above qualifies as excellent.
• Score of 740-799 qualifies as very good.
• A score of 670-739 qualifies as good.
• Score of 580-669 qualifies as fair.
• A score of 580 or lower qualifies as poor credit.

Of course, the idea is to achieve and maintain the highest score possible, but the great majority of people living in America and using credit fall around 621 or slightly lower. A hard-working few do manage to maintain scores in the excellent range, but again, that isn’t necessary to qualify for most loans and credit-related privileges. A score of 740 or above is generally the highest you truly need to shoot for if you want the kind of score that really impresses a financial entity and makes you a good risk.

How Can I Get My Score as High as Possible?

A perfect score isn’t really going to earn you many more privileges than anyone else who falls within the range for excellent credit. However, it’s still fun and commendable to see how high you can get yours to go. The following tips can help you make the most of your credit going forward into the future and give you the best chance at one day achieving the Holy Grail that is an 850 score.

No Negative Entries

Your payment history actually accounts for a whopping 35 percent of your overall score, so you’ll definitely want to make any and all credit payments on time. A person with a perfect score of 850 will be someone who hasn’t missed even one payment and literally has zero late payments on their credit report whatsoever.

Little to No Debt

The overall amount of debt you’re carrying counts for a massive portion of your FICO score as well — about 30 percent. If you want a shot at a perfect credit score, you’ll want to get the balances on your credit accounts as close to zero as you possibly can, which is honestly a goal everyone should be shooting for. People with perfect scoresusecredit, but they also make it a point to pay their balances off in full almost every month.

Lengthy Credit History

if you know much about credit in general, you probably also know that it’s not just about how well you use, manage, and take care of your credit. It’s how long you’ve been doing it. The overall length of a person’s credit history doesn’t count for as much as debt and payment history do, but it still accounts for about 15 percent of a given credit score. As far as the few people out there who actually have and maintain a perfect score of 850, the average length of an individual credit history is about 30 years. That said, it’s pretty much impossible to achieve a perfect score unless you’ve been using credit wisely for decades.

At the end of the day, no one’s scoreneedsto be perfect, but amazing credit is definitely something that opens a lot of doors when it comes to opportunities in life. The better your credit, the easier it will be to get approved for mortgages, car loans, business loans, and the like. You’ll stand better chances of scoring the housing and jobs you want as well, as great credit is considered a sign of exceptional character.

If you aren’t doing so already, get into the habit of checking your credit on a regular basis. This is an essential part of managing your finances. This will help you spot fraud or errors early before they have a chance to affect you too badly, as well as let you know whether you’re moving in the right direction. The sky’s the limit!

Is It Possible to Achieve a Perfect Credit Score? was last modified: June 13th, 2019 by Bill Sweeney