Most credit scores that lenders use in the United States range from 300 to 850. And when people talk about achieving the “highest” credit score possible, they’re usually talking about the ever-elusive 850 FICO® Score.
Earning a perfect 850 FICO Score isn’t common, but it’s certainly possible. Below are some tips on how you might be able to reach this milestone, along with details about other consumers who have earned a perfect credit score before you.
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What is a credit score and what does it mean?
A credit score is a three-digit number that lenders and others can use to predict risk. A credit scoring model calculates your credit score by evaluating different types of information found on your credit report.
For lenders, a credit score answers the question, “How likely is this applicant to pay his or her credit obligations on time during the next 24 months?” This is important information for a lender to gather. If a bank, credit card issuer, or other creditor issues credit to someone who doesn’t repay their debt as promised, the lender could lose money.
A higher credit score indicates that a consumer is less likely to pay a credit obligation severely late (90 days late or worse) in the upcoming 24 months — in other words, that person is more likely to pay on time. But a credit score lower on the 300-850 scale indicates the opposite.
Why a good credit score is important
Earning a good credit score is important because it has the potential to make your financial life easier in numerous ways. When you work to earn good credit, you might enjoy benefits such as:
- A higher likelihood of qualifying for loans, credit cards and other types of financing.
- Lower interest rates and more attractive borrowing terms.
- Higher credit limits.
- Lower auto insurance rates.
- Better rewards credit card options.
- No deposit requirements on utility accounts, mobile phone accounts, etc.
- Better qualification odds for new housing leases.
Good credit alone doesn’t guarantee you’ll be eligible for all of the benefits above. (Lenders may consider other details when you apply for financing, such as your debt-to-income ratio, employment history and more.) But good credit will typically put you in a better position to qualify for the perks above and perhaps others as well.
How to read your credit score
Your credit score communicates how likely you are to repay your credit obligations as promised. So, when you review your own credit score, it may be helpful to try to look at that three-digit number the way a lender might analyze it.
Keep in mind that different lenders may use different credit scoring models. Most lenders (90% of top lenders in the U.S.) use FICO® Scores. But it’s worth paying attention to your VantageScore credit scores too. More than 3,000 companies reviewed 14.5 billion VantageScore credit scores in the U.S. between March 1, 2021 to Feb. 28, 2022.
Here’s what your credit score range tells lenders about your creditworthiness with both FICO and VantageScore credit score systems.
| FICO® CREDIT SCORE RANGE | CREDIT SCORE RATING |
|---|---|
800-850 | Exceptional |
740-799 | Very Good |
670-739 | Good |
580-669 | Fair |
300-579 | Poor |
| VANTAGESCORE® CREDIT SCORE RANGE | CREDIT SCORE RATING |
|---|---|
781-850 | Excellent |
661-780 | Good |
601-660 | Fair |
500-600 | Poor |
300-499 | Very Poor |
How do I get a perfect credit score?
In general, earning a perfect 850 credit score takes years of effort to achieve. According to Experian, nearly 60% of consumers who had a perfect FICO® Score were between the ages of 57 and 75, and 14% were 76 or older. (Note: Your age itself does not factor into your credit score.)
There’s no exact recipe you can follow to earn an 850 credit score. But, if you’re aiming for credit score perfection, it may be helpful to study the characteristics of those who have earned a perfect credit score before you.
Below are some of the average characteristics of consumers with an 850 FICO Score.
| CONSUMERS WITH 850 FICO® SCORES — AVERAGE CREDIT CHARACTERISTICS | |
|---|---|
Number of Accounts with Late Payments or Other Delinquencies | 0 |
Number of Credit Cards | 5.9 |
Credit Card Balance | $2,558 |
Number of Retail Credit Cards | 4.2 |
Auto Loan Balance | $17,074 |
Personal Loan Balance | $32,872 |
Mortgage Balance | $205,057 |
Non-Mortgage Balance | $16,482 |
Source: Experian (Q3 2021)
Of course, the characteristics above are just averages and it’s important to understand them as such. You don’t necessarily have to open a personal loan, for example, in order to earn a perfect credit score. But if you need a personal loan for other reasons, you might be able to leverage that account to get you closer to your goal of an excellent (or perhaps eventually perfect) credit score by always paying on time and using the loan to build good credit history.
Ways to boost your credit score
If you need to build credit from scratch or you’re looking to rebuild damaged credit, there are many potential ways to improve your credit score. Depending on your situation, here are a few options to consider.
- Review your credit reports. You can check all three of your credit reports from Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian for free weekly by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com.
- Dispute credit report errors. If you discover mistakes or fraud on your credit reports, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) empowers you to dispute such issues. This free guide from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) can walk you through how to send disputes to the credit bureaus on your own. Some consumers may also prefer to hire a reputable credit repair service to manage the dispute process on their behalf.
- Pay down credit card debt. Another potential way to boost your credit score is to pay down your credit card debt (if applicable). High credit card balances can increase your credit utilization rate (not to mention cause you to waste money on interest charges). Credit utilization is the relationship between your credit card limits and balances. If this rate goes too high, your credit score could drop. But if you pay down your credit card balances, you might see your credit score climb in response to this smart money move.
- Establish positive credit. When you add positive credit history to your credit reports, those tradelines have the potential to help you build good credit scores over time, especially if you’re establishing credit for the first time or adding to a thin credit file. Consider searching for accounts that fit your current credit profile (e.g., credit cards for rebuilding credit, starter credit cards, etc.). And you might want to look into credit builder loans as well.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
In the third quarter of 2021, just 1.31% of adults with FICO® Scores in the United States had a perfect 850 score, according to an Experian analysis. At 2.23%, Honolulu is the metropolitan area with the highest concentration of consumers with perfect FICO® Scores. Throughout the country, 714 is the average FICO® Score.
Earning an 800 FICO® Score means that you are well above the national average and have a FICO Score that most lenders would consider to be exceptional. In the United States, 23% of consumers have a FICO® Score that is 800 or higher.
Most credit scores that lenders use in the United States range from 300-850. Base FICO® Scores and most VantageScore credit scores follow this credit score range. However, there are industry-specific credit scores such as FICO® Auto Score and FICO Bankcard Scores that range from 250-900. Therefore, if you’re applying for an auto loan or a credit card and the lender uses one of these industry-specific scoring models to assess your credit information, it might be possible to earn a 900 credit score.
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