What do I get with an excellent credit score?
At first, having a good and an excellent credit score may seem like there’s no real difference. However, when we look at things more closely, it’s obvious that having an excellent credit score provides better interest rates and a few more credit card options. An excellent credit score will get you better terms, especially when getting credit lines, buying a car, or getting a mortgage. High scores will act like a guarantee that you can return your loans on time. You will also get lower rates for several different APR cards.
How can you get an excellent score?
The best way to build up your credit scores is to always make sure that your bills are paid on time and that you don’t accumulate a lot of debt. You must make regular payments if you want to keep those credit scores going up. Skip one month, and your scores will start to go down. Here are some of the criteria you have to consider to make sure that you stay on track.
Payment History
The first and most important factor that determines your credit scores is paying your bills on time. Over 30% of your scoring depends on paying bills, and the later you pay them, the smaller your score gets. If you skip a few months, your credit scores will go down faster than you’d expect. That’s why you should always pay your bills first if you want to get an excellent score. When the people at the bank review your credit history, there shouldn’t be any late payments. It takes seven years for bad credit information to disappear from your reports, but even if you have some dating three or four years back, that shouldn’t impact your current scores in any way.
Use of credit
The amount of credit you have available is also an important factor for determining your credit scores. They take up 30% of the final number for FICO and VantageScore. Every lender will first check how much loan you already have and compare it to your limit. Credit cards play an important role, as they impact your overall credit scores. If you keep your balance under 30% of your limit, it won’t impact your scores much. Lower your spending, and the scores will stay intact.
Credit History
Your credit mix takes up to 10% of the scoring with Fico and VantageScore. If you have multiple accounts, revolving credit, credit cards, and investment loans, you are sure to get a better score. When a bank sees that you make all of your payments on multiple accounts regularly, there’s nothing you should worry about.
Types of Credit
You will also get higher scores if you hold multiple accounts with different types of credit, and you pay all bills on time. By providing proof that you’re able to finance multiple types of credit on time, your credit scores will improve.
Recent Inquiries
Your recent credit activity is also important, so you should be careful when applying for new credit cards. You should do the research and make sure that you qualify for the cards you apply for. Also, don’t apply for multiple cards simultaneously, because that will also negatively impact your overall scores.
Perks you get with an excellent credit
Having an excellent credit score will provide you with a few perks that will make your life easier in the long run. Here are some of the benefits you can expect when you build your scores up.
Rewards. Many credit cards offer rewards, even those designed for building up bad credit, but those rewards get better and better as your overall score improves. You will get the chance to qualify for better cards with high sign-up bonuses, annual awards, and other perks that can earn you hundreds of dollars every year.
Benefits. Naturally, having top credit scores will provide you with some benefits as well. That includes access to airport lounges, discounts on travel fees and travelling, car rental insurance, and even extended warranties.
Types of Cards. With an excellent credit score, you will be eligible for some of the best credit cards there are. That includes cards with 0% loyalty for hotels and airlines, luxury cards with all kinds of perks, and business cards with other benefits too.
Interest Rates. When you finally get your credit into the excellent category, you should do a loan check to see what types of rates you can expect. Give your card issuers a call and ask them for more details.
Higher credit limits. Of course, a higher credit score will land you a higher credit limit. That means that you will get access to more money. You can make those rates go down even lower if you manage to minimize your credit utilization ratio.
5 Tips on how to maintain the excellent score
Once you finally get your credit scores to the highest level, you will have to tread lightly if you want to keep things that way. You must always remember to check your scores regularly and make changes if you see them go down at any point. Here are some expert tips that will help you do that.
- Make multiple payments simultaneously. You can’t know when the three main bureaus will send credit reports to your card issuers. That’s why it’s always a good idea to make two monthly payments in a single month. By doing so, you will raise your chances of getting a good balance that will seem nice and low when the reports are reviewed. That’s also one of the reasons why you should make payments on time.
- Apply for multiple loans one after another. FICO has a scoring model that counts three loan inquiries as a single inquiry if you make them one after another. That period can be anywhere between two weeks and 45 days, and the inquiries include student loans, auto loans, and mortgages. Credit cards are not counted.
- Keep your old debt in your reports. No one likes to see less than perfect credit scores in their reports, especially if they are in the excellent category. However, no matter how much you want to delete those bad reports once you’ve taken care of them, you should leave them intact. The bureaus will see that you made an effort to clear your debt, and they will see that as a good thing.
- Closely watch your balances. If you own multiple credit cards with small balances, it’s always the best move to consolidate them as soon as possible. Having too many open accounts with a balance can get you in trouble, and the penalties can be very steep. It’s best that you extend only the cards you use and get rid of the ones you don’t.
- Make a plan for loans. If you make a strategy before getting a car loan or a mortgage by making sure that you don’t have a lot of money on your cards, and that you don’t get new credit cards, your score will improve.