The highest credit score you can achieve (under perfect circumstances) is 850 using the FICO model. However, any score over 740 is generally considered to be great and puts you in range for the best interest rates on things like credit cards, mortgages, and car loans.
Introduction to Understanding the Highest Credit Score Possible
Let’s back up for a minute. Notice that we mentioned anything over 740 is generally considered to be great? That’s because credit scores are generally broken into the ranges poor, fair, good, very good, and excellent. The chart below outlines these various credit score ranges. As you can see, Excellent is generally defined as anything above 800 and 850, while a Good credit score is considered anything between 670 and 739.
FICO Credit Score Ranges
| Credit Score Ranges | Credit Score Values |
|---|---|
| Excellent Credit Score | 800 & above |
| Very Good Credit Score | 740 - 799 |
| Good Credit Score | 670 - 739 |
| Fair Credit Score | 580 - 669 |
| Poor Credit Score | 580 & below |
Source: Fair Isaac Corporation (myFICO.com).
We’ll dive into more detail on ways to achieve the highest credit score later in this article, but for now let’s look at why it’s important to have an understanding of the highest credit score and how it can impact you.
Why is understanding the highest credit score important?
If you’re like most of the U.S. population, your credit score falls somewhere under 621. In fact, you can see from the chart below that 38 percent of people under 30 years old have a score less than 621. That said, 29 percent of people under the age of 30 are doing a bit better with a score of 621 to 680. When you consider that only 2 percent of people in this age group are actually achieving a 780 score or above, it’s clear that there’s lots of room for improvement if having the “highest credit score” is the goal.
Understanding the credit ranges and what the highest credit score is can give you the motivation and knowledge needed to improve your credit score and, therefore, improve your financial ability to get better interest rates on everything from mortgages to credit cards.
Is the perfect credit score necessary?
You might be asking yourself, “Is a perfect credit score really necessary when there’s such a big range from ‘excellent’ to ‘perfect’?” No, while obtaining an 850 is a great goal, it might not be realistic. And, remember that just falling into the “Excellent” range can often reap the same benefits as having a perfect score.
An 850 score is theoretically the highest possible credit score, but only 3% of percent of Credit Sesame members have a score above 800 (2018). What’s more, as we saw in the data presented earlier, only 2 percent of people in the U.S. under 30 years old have a FICO Score greater than 780. In other words, an 850 credit score is a great goal, but it’s also an anomaly.
Why does this matter? When you purchase a car or apply for a mortgage, the lender will pull a copy of your credit report. They will generally look for you to fall within a certain range. The mortgage interest rate you qualify for will likely not change inside that particular range. For example, if you qualify for a 3.5 percent interest rate with a “Good” credit score of 720, that rate is likely not going to improve unless you reach the next tier of “Very Good” or drop below to “Fair.”
| Related to "What Affects Your Credit Score" |
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| Check Your Free Credit Score Check your credit score for free with Credit Sesame to understand where you stand with TransUnion and what you can do to improve your credit based on the factors we are discussing. |
| Analyze Your Free Credit Report Explore your free credit report card from Credit Sesame to get an understand of what parts of your credit profile is impacting your credit score the most. |
| Learn How to Build Credit Learn the best ways to build your credit score and what techniques you can use to maintain it. |
| Easily Improve Your Credit Score Discover the different ways that you can improve your credit score and learn about the different ways our members have used our platform for that purpose. |
What is the highest possible credit score you can achieve?
At this point, it should be noted that each credit bureau (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax) and each scoring model (FICO vs. VantageScore 3.0) have slight variations in their scoring ranges. What’s considered “Excellent” for TransUnion might be slightly different than what’s considered “Excellent” for Equifax.
Credit Score Ranges: TransUnion (VantageScore 3.0), Equifax, Experian
| Credit Bureau | Excellent | Good | Fair | Poor | Very Poor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TransUnion | 781 - 850 | 720 - 780 | 658 - 719 | 601 - 657 | 300 - 600 |
| Equifax | 760 - 850 | 725 - 759 | 660 - 724 | 560 - 659 | 280 - 559 |
| Experian | 750 - 850 | 700 - 749 | 650 - 699 | 550 - 649 | 350 - 549 |
Source: Information sourced from each individual bureau’s openly distributed range data, specifically, from the official pages of TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.
As you can see by the above table, different credit scoring agencies vary on what credit scores fall into what range. The primary reason for these differences is the scoring algorithm each credit bureau uses. One reason for this is that each agency’s definition is different when it comes to what score corresponds with which category.
Now, let’s look at how you can take this information and utilize it to not only improve your credit score but also improve your financial situation.
Benefits of knowing the maximum credit score
As we mentioned before, knowing the maximum credit score is important because it gives you a framework for what’s possible and it helps you understand how much improvement you need to make in order to break into that “Excellent” threshold.
If you’re like most of the U.S. population, you have some room for improvement. Let’s look at some of the ways you can improve your credit score.
Ways to improve your credit score
If you’re looking to improve your score, there are some basics that you can work on. Those are:
- Pay your bills on time
- Keep your credit card balances low
- Make an effort to keep your oldest accounts open
- Manage your available credit vs. debt ratio
- Don’t have too many inquiries for new credit
- Keep an eye on your credit report
If you put some of these strategies into play, it’s not difficult to move from one credit ranking to another.
How to keep a great credit score
It may come as no surprise that many of the same strategies used to improve your credit score are the ones used to maintain a great credit score.
These strategies, of course, are directly related to the factors that contribute to your overall score. For example, paying your bills on time accounts for roughly 35 percent of your credit score. Signing up for automatic payments to avoid missed or late payments can be a way to keep your high credit score.
Similarly, your credit utilization (which is the total available credit you have vs. the total debt you have), accounts for 30 percent of your credit score. When you keep your balances low, this improves your credit utilization and therefore helps keep your score high.
For more detail on the factors that impact your score and how to maintain them, be sure to explore this recent article on credit score factors.
Getting the highest credit score possible
When you’re familiar with what the highest credit score is, how to achieve it, and how to maintain it, you’re putting yourself in a better financial situation. Your credit score impacts your ability to make big purchases like a home or car, and it also impacts smaller things like whether or not you have to put a deposit down when applying for utilities or a cell phone.
While getting a perfect score of 850 may be a long shot, getting a score in the “Good” or “Excellent” range is certainly attainable and, if you follow some of the steps outlined in this article, you’ll be well on your way to financial freedom.
