With the highest credit score being 850, many people make it their goal to hit a perfect FICO score. Having this score means you have excellent credit, and you will get the best interest rates for any loan or credit card on the market.
If you need to pull a credit check or view your credit score from your phone, we recommend TransUnion because you get all three reports plus they add one million in identity theft insurance. Click Here to View All Three Credit Report
Here are the fastest ways to get an excellent credit score of 800 (or more).
@thebusinesskid How to Get an 800 Credit Score! Click the link in my bio and search 800 for the detailed training.
♬ original sound – The Business Kid
Keep Your Debt-to-Limit Ratio at 30 Percent or Less
A large part of your FICO credit score is based on your debt to limit ratio. To calculate this ratio, you take the amount of debt on your credit card and divide by your credit card limit. You want this ratio to be under the 30% range (or paid off).
To lower your debt to limit ratio, let's take a look at the math.
- Credit Card Balance – $100
- Credit Card Limit – $300
If your balance on the credit card is $100 and your credit card limit is $300, what is the ratio?
$100 divided by $300 = 33%
When this ratio is above 30%, most banks won't lend you money for a house. How can you lower this ratio? Call your credit card company and request a limit raise. Let's say they raise it to $400.
Now, you still owe $100. The new limit is $400.
$100 divided by $400 = $25%
Now, your debt to limit ratio lowers which bumps up your credit score. Another option is to pay down the amount owed on the credit card. Let's say you paid $75 and the balance now is $25.
$25 divided by $400 = 6.25%
This can be the biggest increase to get your credit score to 800.
Related: Factors that Increase or Decrease Your Credit Score
Diversify, Diversify Your Credit Accounts to Boost Credit Score
Have a healthy mix of credit accounts open. Most people make this mistake. They want to establish credit so they immediately open 10 credit card department store accounts.
Do you pay rent? Did you know you can add rent to your credit report to boost your score? Rent Reporters reports your payments to Equifax and Transunion, and the average increase is 40 points in 10 days. Click Here for Details.
Don’t open 10 different credit cards; diversify your accounts with car loans, mortgages, personal loans, with just 3-4 credit cards mixed in for good measure. All of these, of course, should be in good standing.
If you need to consolidate your credit cards into one payment, then we recommend a credit card consolidation loan. Then, use the extra cash leftover to pay off the loan. That's the quickest way to get out of credit card debt.
That also boosts your credit score because your debt to limit ratio lowers. This sends lenders a clear sign you are responsible with your finances.
Negotiate Your Bills & Cancel Subscriptions
Know your (average) monthly income, then from that, create a budget that automatically puts money in your savings without you ever seeing it.
If you think your bills are too high and can be negotiated down, then try a “bill negotiating” service like Bill Shark. They will negotiate and cancel subscriptions for you. Click Here for Details
Do you have bad credit? Do you need someone to repair YOUR credit? Check out The Credit Pro's. They are the fastest growing credit repair company. Click Here for Details
I do three things every single month to help me with my budget goals that creates my lifestyle goals. I don't just want to live to work, I want to work to live. That reminds of Dolly Parton's quote, “Don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life…”
"Don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life…"- Dolly Parton Click To Tweet- I put a 10% in my travel account. Travel and vacations are important to me, and in my 20's, I never had enough money to visit the places my friends were going. Once I turned 30, I set this travel account up, and when it hits $6,000 I go on a nice trip.
Here's what happens.
I took my first trip and cashed in a ton of credit card reward points. Then, traded my reward points for concert tickets and ziplining. When I got to the hotel, I asked for an upgrade. They upgraded me to the penthouse suite for $50. I had so much fun that when I came back, I thought there would be nothing in the travel account.
I still had $5300 in my travel account. Within 40 days, I was back up to the original $6,000 and took another trip. Now, this $6,000 cycle happens every 17 days.
2. Automatically put 20% of earnings in a “tax” account. I used to always get hit with tax bills from the house or tax income from making money blogging. I used to get hit with emergency repairs on my car and my house.
So now, here's what happens. When the yearly tax bills come in, I have the money in that account to easily pay them in real time before any interest adds on to their tax bills.
And there's money left over for emergency repairs.
3. I pay off my credit card balances every month now. Here's how I got into that habit. I paid off the low balances every Friday (and still do to this day).
This took a few years of juggling balances and consolidating credit cards before establishing a system for paying off the balance every single month.
Pro Tip: I often used my reward points as credit card statement adjustments to pay down the balance. Now, I use the reward points for travel discounts because $20 dollar airplane tickets and $20 hotel rooms are nice.
Request your FREE Annual Credit Report from all three Bureaus.
These three actions you can take to immediately boost your credit score & repair your credit report.
The three credit bureau agencies are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You are entitled to a free annual credit report from each of them every year. Click the link below to get the address and phone number for each credit bureau to request your free credit report.
Related: Address and Phone Number of the Credit Bureaus
Establish a Long Credit History
One factor that determines your credit score is your length of history. Keep your oldest credit card accounts open, even if you have paid them off and don’t use them.
When your credit cards are paid off and left open, two things happen. You free up your credit which lowers your debt to limit ratio. Then, your credit history expands which both will raise your score.
Pay Your Bills on Time
This is so important to getting an 800 credit score. Even a 30-day missed payment can have a detrimental effect. Don’t let this happen! Consider signing up for automatic payments to make this easier on you.
You can also save money by using a lower my bills type of service.
And pay off balances within a week of the credit card reporting to increase your debt-to-limit ratio. If you are having a hard time paying off your credit card debt, consider the snowball debt payoff technique or a credit card debt consolidation loan.
Think Twice Before You Co-sign a Loan
Helping a friend or loved one out might feel good, but consider that by co-signing a loan, you are just as responsible for that loan as they are, should they not be able to pay for any reason.
Limit Hard Inquiries
If you apply for credit for a mortgage, auto loan or credit card, the lender will check your credit report from one or more of the major credit bureaus above. These inquiries are known as “hard inquries”. Click here to see how hard inquiries impact your credit scores.
To Recap:
Step 1: Request a Free Annual Credit Report or get instant alerts for any information posted to any report here.
Step 2: Remove Any Negative Information Immediately. If you need help, consider using our recommended Credit Assistant Network who will do all the work for you.
Step 3: Ask for Credit Card Increases to Lower Your Debt to Limit Ratio
Step 4: Pay Off Your Balances with a Credit Card Consolidation or Snowball
Step 5: Create a Travel & a Tax Account to Save Monthly. If you're not using a credit card, consider applying for the one we use: Southwest Rewards Travel Credit Card
Step 6: Once You Have Reach Desired Balances, Start Investing. We recommend trading stocks without paying a commission or fee using eToro. You can get started for less than $200. Click Here for Details.
Before you jump into investing, here are the best investing books out there right now.
If you need to make more money, find a side hustle to make money online. You may also try increasing income from home with a freelance job. And then, here are ways to make money that can help increase your income.
Follow these guidelines and you will get to a credit score of 800, and be within the top fraction of people with excellent credit. If you are a renter, then check out these five companies who report rent to boost your credit score.
Make sure you bookmark this page as I’ll be updating it as often as I can to keep you informed on any latest tricks to boost your credit score and repair your credit report.
If you know anyone looking to boost their credit score, please share this page with them.
