If you suffer from a low or (in many cases) no credit score, it may be quite difficult to achieve some of your personal financial goals. Some of these goals include: obtaining an auto loan, mortgage, or applying for any other types of loans.
According to FICO’s most recent statistics, only 1.6% of 232 million U.S. consumers have a perfect credit score at 850. This feat may seem unachievable, but it isn’t impossible.
We surveyed 100 people in San Francisco and asked them what their credit score is. Many answered in the mid-600s to 700 range, with a handful above 800 and some at a PERFECT 850.
We asked those that were above 800 how they achieved this. The following are some tips and tricks they shared:
- Pay your bills on time and always pay over the minimum.
- Don’t max out your cards.
- Keep a low or 0 balance. Some companies, like TomoCredit, feature autopay, so you never have to worry about making a late payment. Tomo’s autopay triggers weekly, so you’ll also never keep a balance.
- Only spend on what you need, not what you want.
- Have a budget and stick to it. Seems simple, but can be difficult and challenging in practice.
- Create a strategy for your credit card usage — designate a credit card to the spending type. For example, if you have more than one credit card, use one for gas and groceries only and the other for major purchases.
- Don’t open too many accounts. Retail stores usually have people fall prey to their credit card programs and many tend to forget they signed up for the card until they receive a late payment notice in the mail.
- Understand your APR/interest rates. Know how much you are paying and what you will need to pay.
- Don’t close your credit card accounts. This factors into your FICO on credit card length history.
- Check your score for free. Experian, Transunion, Equifax all have annual free credit reports. Some of your current accounts may also show you your current score on the dashboard when you log in, like Tomo’s dashboard for instance.