January 15,2007
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How Good is Perfect?
The method of credit scoring with which most consumers are familiar is the FICO scoring system. This score ranges from 300 – 850, and range over something like a bell curve. The lowest score is tragically bad, even for someone with major credit problems. Likewise, you just don't see many consumers with 850 strutting around!
Part of the reason for this is that scores tend to plateau around 825. It takes almost superhuman financial manipulation to rise above it. The big secret is, you shouldn't try to! If you have a credit score at or above the mid-700s, there really is very little room for improvement. At that point on the FICO scale, you will already enjoy the benefits available to the highest scorers – prime interest rates and financing – and the extra 100 points don't stand to improve that. Having a credit score of 800 or above doesn't give you much other than bragging rights – and the stress involved in getting there might just not be worth it.