Credit score

[sahcivan]

Is it possible to get a perfect 999 credit score.

I’ve managed to get up to 983 over the last couple of years on Experian.

Or while I still have my mortgage will I never be able to get to 999

[Blansky]

Isn’t your credit score rated on your ability to pay as well as your history.

So paying everything off is not the goal I believe.

But you seems to have an incredible handle on it.

[dmash]

I thought OP had too much to drink, then realized he was in the UK,

[crew]

Other than curiosity, what difference does it make?
Admittedly I don’t know a lot about credit scores, but as far as qualifying for a loan I’d bet that there’s little to no difference in terms for a 700 score vs a “perfect” score.
I play the credit card game in that I apply for a new card when the incentive is high enough. Friends have warned me that too many cards, or closing old unused cards, will negatively affect my score. I don’t care and I haven’t seen any impact.
I haven’t applied for a loan in decades and I have no plans to in the future. I’m not rich but I do live within my means. YMMV.

[~JJ]

Is the scoring different outside the US?... I thought 850 was the highest possible.

[singe89]

Credit scores are kind of a joke. Pay everything off and don't carry any debt and the score goes down.

just checked 823 out of 850. Also find it funny that my wife has a higher credit score yet no income so she would instantly be approved for a high limit credit card or an expensive car with no way to actually pay for it.

[Laszlo]

I think in the US 850 is ceiling?

[tyler1980]

which credit score? There are even many, many variations of the FICO score. many scores are not even FICO scores anyway. Banks and credit card companies tend to use a FICO score but they are not even the ones you are looking at yourself and are tweaked for their needs.

Usually its out of 850 some scores go to 900. I track about 6 different versions of my FICO from all 3 credit bureaus . Every one of them shows a different score but its based on the same information.

In the UK though i have no idea... im not OCD enough to track my UK scores too

Generally i dont think its possible to get a perfect score. My scores change many, many times a month and its not static. On a US score anything above about 750 on an 850 scale doesnt matter all that much. Anything above 800 and you are not going to get turned down for anything based solely on your score. So there is a highest practical score which is 750-800. Above that no one cares... here is the percent of people who default at each level:

[Syed117]

My father has a credit score of 872 in the US. I think I'm around 800 last time I checked.

Which he did not know until he bought his most recent car.

Will dig up the report the dealer printed out at the time of sale and see what else it says.

[swils8610]

We pull credit daily at work. The highest I’ve seen in 24 years was an 838. Lowest was a 353. I believe 850 is the highest but I could be wrong. Anything that starts with a 7 is solid in the US. Mid 6’s and up is very common. Anything under 600 makes it more challenging to get financing for but we are usually successful at it.


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[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by Syed117

My father has a credit score of 872 in the US. I think I'm around 800 last time I checked.

Which he did not know until he bought his most recent car.

Will dig up the report the dealer printed out at the time of sale and see what else it says.

FICO Auto Score 5 and 8 are both on a 900 point scale. Its probably one of those or a variation of it. Make sure your score you pulled on yourself is the same type of score, as yours might not be that comparatively lower at all. 872 out of 900 vs 800 out of 850 for example

[c41006]

Originally Posted by dmash

I thought OP had too much to drink, then realized he was in the UK,

Me too

[beshannon]

Originally Posted by sahcivan

Is it possible to get a perfect 999 credit score.

I’ve managed to get up to 983 over the last couple of years on Experian.

Or while I still have my mortgage will I never be able to get to 999

Why do you think 999 is significant?

Credit scores are made up and the three agencies that make them up do not disclose how they are calculated.

Pay your bills, have history and credit will be easy to obtain.

[GB-man]

In the US anything over 725 I believe is first tier with most any lender. My wife somehow has like an 800 and I have around 750 give or take. I too like to take advantage of credit card offers because I rarely need credit for anything. 50k bonus points for joining? Sign me up lol

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by beshannon

Why do you think 999 is significant?

Credit scores are made up and the three agencies that make them up do not disclose how they are calculated.

Pay your bills, have history and credit will be easy to obtain.

yep

[handsfull]

850 is the highest. Ive never paid attention to it until this past year where I was cashing in on all these credit card offers I kept getting bothered with for years. I finally cashed in on these deals and opened over 6 cards and 6 new bank accounts in the past 8 months and although my score dropped to 834- its back to 840-844 depending on the month.

Swils, Im genuinely surprised (in 24 years!) youve never seen a score above 838? Im 43yo, but must be ignorant to the amount of people running on credit...?

[superdog]

Loan rates are determine by how good your credit is.

The better your credit, the better chance you have of getting a good loan rate on a car or mortgage.

A good credit rating could save you thousands upon thousands over time with lower rates.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by handsfull

850 is the highest. Ive never paid attention to it until this past year where I was cashing in on all these credit card offers I kept getting bothered with for years. I finally cashed in on these deals and opened over 6 cards and 6 new bank accounts in the past 8 months and although my score dropped to 834- its back to 840-844 depending on the month.

Swils, Im genuinely surprised (in 24 years!) youve never seen a score above 838? Im 43yo, but must be ignorant to the amount of people running on credit...?

no

There are 8 of them (at least) and some are out of 850 and some out of 900. All are FICO and only from Equafax and all are different, and you can do the same thing with the other two big credit agencies. No such thing as one credit score. Also you cant say my credit score is X as that depends too.

[lguevara91]

Originally Posted by crew

Other than curiosity, what difference does it make?
Admittedly I don’t know a lot about credit scores, but as far as qualifying for a loan I’d bet that there’s little to no difference in terms for a 700 score vs a “perfect” score.
I play the credit card game in that I apply for a new card when the incentive is high enough. Friends have warned me that too many cards, or closing old unused cards, will negatively affect my score. I don’t care and I haven’t seen any impact.
I haven’t applied for a loan in decades and I have no plans to in the future. I’m not rich but I do live within my means. YMMV.

I do the same thing, but i never close them... if i dont use them i downgrade them to the $0 annual fee card and if no option then close the account... CC companies have paid for many of my trips

But yes, when you want to get a big loan "i.e. mortgage, car loan, etc." its best to stop getting new inquiries on your credit report for at least 12mo is what ive been told...

[dmash]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

no

There are 8 of them (at least) and some are out of 850 and some out of 900. All are FICO and only from Equafax and all are different, and you can do the same thing with the other two big credit agencies. No such thing as one credit score. Also you cant say my credit score is X as that depends too.

Well aren't you just an exceptional gentleman?

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by dmash

Well aren't you just an exceptional gentleman?

I dont do anything fancy except pay off my CC's BEFORE they close if im trying to juice my score. That way it doesn't hit my report as debt. So basically if you pay in full every month and pay it before it closes the debt never gets reported. Pay it after the statement closes the very next day and its on your report until the next month regardless if its paid or not.

So payment timing can swing your score as much as 70 or 80 points. If i buy a watch and it hits my report my score will go down about that much for the month that is on my report. If i pay it before the statement closes i avoid that swing.

They are VERY easy to manipulate with some stragtegy and understanding credit utilization ratios and what kinds of debt you need to have and not have. Ive opened an installment loan for no other reason than to pay it off immediately, so i added that payment history to my report. Installment loans look better than revolving loans (cc) and especially so when they are paid off.

[wantonebad]

FICO is a separate company from all of the credit reporting agencies and they use a proprietary algorithm with at least 37 variables with different weightings to calculate their scores. The three major bureaus have their own scores that are different than FICO which they call a credit score but is not a FICO credit score. Most lending institutions rely on FICO calculations.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by wantonebad

FICO is a separate company from all of the credit reporting agencies and they use a proprietary algorithm with at least 37 variables with different weightings to calculate their scores. The three major bureaus have their own scores that are different than FICO which they call a credit score but is not a FICO credit score. Most lending institutions rely on FICO calculations.

Correct. FICO will sell you your scores based on the information contained in the three major bureaus files. Credit bureaus have your info, FICO calculates your FICO score based on that info.

If you want your FICO scores as a consumer the only place you can get it is from them directly.

[breitlings]

Originally Posted by handsfull

850 is the highest. Ive never paid attention to it until this past year where I was cashing in on all these credit card offers I kept getting bothered with for years. I finally cashed in on these deals and opened over 6 cards and 6 new bank accounts in the past 8 months and although my score dropped to 834- its back to 840-844 depending on the month.

Swils, Im genuinely surprised (in 24 years!) youve never seen a score above 838? Im 43yo, but must be ignorant to the amount of people running on credit...?

Yeah those guys with 838 credit scores are really over leveraged and need to rethink their life choices.

[breitlings]

I've thought to myself credit score unfairly affects entrepreneurs.

Originally Posted by tyler1980

I dont do anything fancy except pay off my CC's BEFORE they close if im trying to juice my score. That way it doesn't hit my report as debt. So basically if you pay in full every month and pay it before it closes the debt never gets reported. Pay it after the statement closes the very next day and its on your report until the next month regardless if its paid or not.

So payment timing can swing your score as much as 70 or 80 points. If i buy a watch and it hits my report my score will go down about that much for the month that is on my report. If i pay it before the statement closes i avoid that swing.

They are VERY easy to manipulate with some stragtegy and understanding credit utilization ratios and what kinds of debt you need to have and not have. Ive opened an installment loan for no other reason than to pay it off immediately, so i added that payment history to my report. Installment loans look better than revolving loans (cc) and especially so when they are paid off.

Beyond time, or the ability to carry balance. I've heard where you spend your credit also has a big impact. "Birds of a Feather" algorithm

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by breitlings

Beyond time, or the ability to carry balance. I've heard where you spend your credit also has a big impact. "Birds of a Feather" algorithm

i haven't got that into where im spending as a potential factor, but i monitor it and every single time there is a change i get notified. So i have found over many years of trial and error what juices the score and what doesn't. That never occurred to me, but it makes sense.

[Watchflair]

Originally Posted by swils8610

We pull credit daily at work. The highest I’ve seen in 24 years was an 838. Lowest was a 353. I believe 850 is the highest but I could be wrong. Anything that starts with a 7 is solid in the US. Mid 6’s and up is very common. Anything under 600 makes it more challenging to get financing for but we are usually successful at it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Just checked out last 30 days of inquiries and the highest score I saw was 875 - actually had a few people right around this score.

[SC11]

I just had a look and my Experian 999 so can be done with a mortgage.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by SC11

I just had a look and my Experian 999 so can be done with a mortgage.

mortgage debt is good debt. My first house in the US, my score went up despite the debt. The credit inquiry dinged the score but the actual debt along with paying on it every month rose it.

When i sold my house, not having a mortgage was listed as a factor hurting my score

[SC11]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

mortgage debt is good debt. My first house in the US, my score went up despite the debt. The credit inquiry dinged the score but the actual debt along with paying on it every month rose it.

When i sold my house, not having a mortgage was listed as a factor hurting my score

Oh yes as it all proves ability to borrow and pay.

My comment was to the OP who question if a 999 score was possible with a mortgage.