My credit score is 800. Should I raise it?

At some point, it’s normal to resign yourself to an excellent but not perfect credit score.

Key points

• A perfect credit score of 850 is extremely difficult to achieve.
• You usually don’t have to worry about raising your credit score once it’s high enough.

Your credit score is not just a random number. It is calculated based on various factors that testify to the reliability of your borrower.

The higher your credit score, the less risk a lender takes when lending you money, and the less risk the credit card issuer takes when granting you a revolving line of credit. That’s why it’s important to establish and maintain a solid credit score.

The highest FICO credit score you can get is 850. If your score is 800 right now, there’s clearly room for growth. But that doesn’t mean you have to spin the wheels in order to increase your score or aim for 850.

When great credit is enough

A credit score of 800 is generally considered excellent. It’s an indication that you pay your bills on time, that you have a good mix of loans and credit cards, and that you don’t have too many balances on your various cards.

If you apply for a loan or credit card with a score of 800, you are extremely likely to be approved. You are also likely to get an affordable interest rate on a loan with such a high score. As such, if you have a credit score of 800, it’s certainly worth working to maintain. But do you need to boost it? Probably not.

Once your credit score reaches a certain level – usually the upper 700s – it doesn’t matter exactly what it is. Or, to put it another way, increasing a credit score from 800 to 810 or 815 might not change anything for you when it comes to borrowing money or getting a new credit card. If you’re applying for a 30-year mortgage, for example, and the best rate offered by lenders in your area is 3.9%, you’ll likely get that rate whether your score is 800, 810, 815, or perfect. 850.

In fact, he really doesn’t pay to chase after a perfect credit score, because that 850 is nearly impossible to achieve. Simply applying for a new credit card can drop your score by a few points. And if there’s a credit card offer you like – say, an offer with a generous sign-up bonus – then you shouldn’t walk away from that offer because you’re afraid it will ruin your chances of winning. get perfect credit.

Don’t stress unnecessarily

A credit score of 800 is extremely respectable and you should be happy with it. That said, it’s not a bad idea to check your credit report and see why your score sits at 800 instead of a higher number. You may simply not have accounts open long enough to increase your score, as the length of your credit history also plays a role in calculating your score.

Either way, while it’s certainly possible to boost a credit score from 800 to a higher number, it’s not something worth pointing out. As long as your credit score is around this level, you should be in a prime position to borrow affordably whenever you want.