
Perfect scorers had six credit cards on average, compared to fewer than four for other Americans.
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It might be natural to associate having a stable full of credit cards with profligate spending, but that’s not how it works. Meanwhile, only 4% of consumers with a perfect 850 FICO Score are Millennials and less than 1% are part of Generation Z.ĭon’t shy away from signing up for credit cards Another 14% belong to the Silent Generation and 22% are from Generation X. Almost 60% of perfect score achievers are Baby Boomers, according to Experian. But the age of the accounts on your credit report is fair game.īased on this information, it makes sense that most consumers who have a perfect credit score are older. “It has nothing to do with them not paying their bills on time or not using credit cards responsibly.”Ĭredit scoring models like FICO can’t consider your age when calculating your credit score. “Some people can’t hit 850 for no other reason than their credit report isn’t old enough,” says Ulzheimer. One of the biggest keys to his success, he says, was patience. Play the long gameĬredit expert John Ulzheimer started consistently hitting an 850 credit score when he was in his 40s. It’s “a safety net in case we get distracted or something comes up,” she adds. Horrell says that while she usually pays off her cards’ entire balances each month, having autopay cover at least the minimum provides a fail safe. “The mortgage is set to autopay,” says Horrell, “and we have automatic payments set to pay the minimum credit card payments every month too.” One way to avoid common mistakes-like simply forgetting to pay a bill-is to simply take the task out of your hands, says Kate Horrell, a blogger and financial counselor who has maintained perfect and near-perfect scores for years. Given how important it is to pay your bills on time, you shouldn’t leave anything to chance. So, what actions does it take to get the perfect credit score? Here are some tips offered by the experts.
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“If you do those…things and you’re patient,” he says, “you can’t help but have elite credit scores.” Tips on how to earn the perfect credit score Maintaining a very low credit card utilization ratio is also key, the credit expert points out. “You don’t have to be highly educated or come from affluence to understand the common sense value of paying bills on time and not getting into excessive credit card debt,” says Ulzheimer. In addition, you need to be careful with how you use credit cards-these consumers consistently pay off their balances and maintain a low credit limit to balance relationship, a.k.a credit utilization ratio. Collection accounts and late payments are non-existent on the credit reports of consumers with perfect credit scores. What you do need to do to earn a perfect score is to pay your bills on time, all of the time. And their average mortgage balance is $200,000, well below the average mortgage size, which is around $237,000, according to Experian. Many consumers with a perfect 850 credit score also owe outstanding car loans-suggesting they aren’t paying for them with cash.

Also important are having access to sufficient credit to boost factors like your credit utilization ratio, according to credit experts. How do you become one of the credit score elect? It takes discipline and patience, including years, if not decades of steadily paying your bills on time.
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But a small minority of Americans-just 1%-achieve perfection, the magical 850. Credit scores range from 300 to 850 and the average FICO Score is about 715. Your credit score is a big part of your financial life, potentially affecting what you pay for a mortgage to auto insurance. Your Instagram page, your steak sear-and perhaps your credit score. There are plenty of things in life you want to be perfect.
