You’ve been watching your FICO score like a hawk. Observing it climb from 700 to 720 to 750 with each set of improvements. Lowering utilization rates, paying off debt, cleaning up past credit mistakes – it’s difficult at times, but you’ve set a goal and you’re sticking to it. Go you!

The next mountain in your sights? The 800 credit score club.

If that’s your next goal, you’re probably wondering, “What can I do with a credit score of 850?” You’ve seen doors open when hitting 700 and 750. So let’s check out the perks for 850 scores. 

850 Credit Score Benefits

Making it to an 800 credit score, let alone an 850, is quite the undertaking. In fact, according to the most recent credit score statistics, only 22% of Americans have an excellent credit score of 800 or higher. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t aim for it though. All the hard work pays off. 

Even if you’ve only reached 800, you’ll rarely be declined for anything. In most cases, you’re held in the same category as someone with an 850 credit score. 

After reaching an 850 credit score you’d be surprised how readily lenders offer you low-interest rates on car loans, personal loans, mortgages, and credit cards. They’re practically begging you to borrow money! Because they know you’ll pay it back. 

With a perfect credit score, lenders and credit bureaus see you as having almost zero risk of defaulting on your obligations. As long as your income and DTI are healthy too, there’s not much you won’t qualify for. 

There’s no shortage of excellent credit card rewards for borrowers with perfect credit. Having a perfect credit score earns you 0% APR balance transfer offers on credit cards. This can help you pay down higher-interest credit card debt. 

It also qualifies you for credit cards with the best rewards, which give you everything from cashback to travel rewards and no annual fee. 

Looking to move soon? If you’re going to be renting an apartment, you’ll quickly get approved with a lower security deposit than someone with just good credit or bad credit. 

It doesn’t stop there. Here are the benefits you’ll reap by getting your FICO credit score to 850.

What An 800+ FICO Score Gets You 

Type of Credit	Chance of Approval
High reward credit cards	Very High
Credit cards with no annual fee	Very High
0% intro offers on credit cards	Very High
0% financing offers for auto loans	Very High
Lowest mortgage rates	Very High
Apartment rental with lower security deposits	Very High
The best auto lease terms	Very High
Higher credit limits on revolving accounts	Very High
Best refinance options on higher interest debt	Very High
Lowest personal loan rates	Very High

In addition to all these, perfect credit also qualifies you for lower insurance premiums or even special financing deals on your cell phone plan. No matter what borrowing needs you have, your 850 credit score can get you just about anything you want. 

If you’re currently sitting at a 700 credit score, you’ve noticed that you get much lower interest rates than you did when you had poor credit. Those deals can be pretty good, but clearly, you could qualify for much more when you raise your credit score by 100 points. 

How to Get an 850 Score

Building exceptional credit starts with finding out where your credit score is now. You can check your credit report for free each year by visiting annualcreditreport.com or by using sites like credit karma. Oddly enough, about 54% of people have never checked their credit score.

It’s important to check each credit bureau since your scores might be different in each one. You can check your credit scores online through the FICO, Experian, and TransUnion websites to see what information is showing on your credit report. 

With any luck, you’ll check and see your credit score is already firmly in the 800s. Maybe you’re not so lucky. If you happen to be a few hundred points short of perfection, then it’s time to plan on how to raise your credit score by 200 points. 

When it comes to getting excellent credit, practice makes perfect. The same tactics you used to get into the 750s can get you to 850. It just takes more time and lots of consistency. We’re going over some basic tactics here, but check out some extra steps in our 800 credit score blog.

A consumer credit expert by the name of John Ulzheimer attributes his perfect credit score to regular credit monitoring, keeping debt low, and paying bills on time. Simple, right?

Once he established a good credit mix and kept his payment history solid, he noticed that maintaining excellent credit became easier than building his credit.

You can reach an 850 credit score too. No matter where you’re starting, follow the next few steps to reach your goals.  

Use CreditStrong

If you’re looking to build credit quickly, you can kill two birds with one stone by using Credit Strong. CreditStrong has a great credit builder loan on the market. It allows you to save money and build your credit by introducing an installment loan to your credit mix. 

If you’re familiar with secured credit cards, this is like a secured loan. Credit builder accounts are backed by FDIC-insured Austin Capital Bank – so you know your money is safe.

This is especially helpful if your credit history is largely made up of revolving accounts. By making on-time monthly payments to your credit builder loan, it helps you: 

• Build a positive payment history
• Improve your credit mix
• Keep track of your credit score
• Save money in a secured account

Worried you won’t get approved? No problem. There’s no credit check required when you apply. 

Ready to work towards a higher credit score? Start building your credit today.

Pay Your Bills on Time

With an 850 credit score, you’ve been paying your bills on time. Every time. For years. Your payment history is flawless. That might seem hard to achieve, but the most successful people employ tools to make the journey to perfect credit easier on themselves. 

Use these resources to pay your bills consistently without much effort: 

• Autopay
• Mobile and email notifications
• Automated budget apps

Once your bills are on autopay, it’s easy to get them paid on time every month. This isn’t always the best action depending on your financial situation. 

If you’re not bringing in a consistent income or have trouble timing when your money will hit your account, it might be best to work off of calendar alerts and utilize credit card grace periods to your advantage.

It’s also helpful to use budgeting apps like Mint to keep your bills from getting out of hand by managing due dates and payments in one place.

Keep Credit Utilization Low

Keeping your credit utilization low is a big key to building your credit history. Ideally, you’ll want to keep credit utilization below 30% across all credit cards and lines of credit. 

Keeping your credit utilization inline requires your credit card balances to be very low compared to your credit limit. Many people who fall in the perfect credit range keep their utilization much lower than the recommended 30%. 

According to myFICO.com, people with excellent credit scores of 800+ are only using about 7% of their available credit. 

They’re also paying off credit card balances as quickly as possible. Sometimes within the same billing cycle as the purchase. This allows them to avoid excessive interest charges while maximizing rewards from the card issuer. 

Limit Hard Inquiries

Unless you need credit, you shouldn’t apply for it. The minor hit you take to your credit rating after a hard credit inquiry seems like a small price to pay for a new credit card. Racking up several inquiries in a short amount of time can take a toll on your credit history. 

People with excellent credit scores are mindful of how they use their credit. If there’s a credit inquiry for something they want, they’ve thought long and hard about it before putting in an application. 

You should do the same. Take time to review your credit report and your finances before applying for new credit accounts. Use prequalification tools at different lenders to explore your options without the credit inquiry. Don’t just rely on knowing you have a good credit score. 

By getting to a good credit score, you’ve made responsible choices with your credit, whether it was revolving accounts or installment loans. Keep doing what works. Check your credit report regularly and keep new credit accounts to a minimum.

Don’t Cancel Credit Cards Needlessly

People with perfect credit didn’t get there overnight. It took years of developing their FICO scores and making the transition from poor credit to a good credit score and then beyond. Don’t underestimate the impact time can have on your credit rating. 

This applies to the credit cards that helped you start building your credit too. Yes, it’s important to keep your credit utilization low. But this doesn’t mean you should start closing out cards. Many people end up canceling their longest open credit card because it’s not in use. 

This is a big mistake. Closing out a credit card you’ve had for a while can do some damage even if you have perfect credit. It lowers the age of your credit history and lowers your total available credit. 

By closing out a credit line, you lose access to it so it’ll likely raise your credit utilization rate as well. The safe bet is to leave the credit card open especially if it doesn’t come with annual fees.

Final Thoughts

All in all, getting a perfect credit score is a great goal to have. When you break it down into simple habits and behaviors, it becomes easy to get there, given some time and good credit management. 

Having a perfect credit score can earn you the lowest interest rates, the best rewards, and the lowest monthly payments among other things. Just be sure to keep doing the things that got you to excellent credit in the first place. 

Even one missed payment can drop your credit score significantly. Use the tools at your disposal like auto pay and budgeting apps to help you manage your financial obligations from student loans to mortgage payments and you’ll be fine. 

CreditStrong helps improve your credit and can positively impact the factors that determine 90% of your FICO score.

Start Building credit today