Is it possible to get a perfect credit score?

It is possible to get a perfect credit score , which is 850 with the most popular credit scoring systems. However, since credit scores can fluctuate from month to month, it's difficult to maintain perfect credit. To get a perfect credit score, you should: Always pay on time. Keep your credit utilization as low as possible. Build a lengthy credit history. Have both credit card and installment loan accounts. Limit how often you apply for new credit. Even when you follow that advice, it's still difficult to attain a perfect credit score. There's also no need to make this a goal. A credit score of at least 720 to 760 is enough to qualify for all the best credit cards and to get the lowest interest rates on loans.

Can I improve an excellent credit score?

You can improve an excellent credit score by maintaining the habits that you've used to build your credit, including paying on time and keeping your credit utilization low. It does take more time to improve excellent credit because your score won't increase as quickly as it did when it was lower.

How long does it take to get an excellent credit score?

The amount of time it takes to get an excellent credit score depends on your credit history and your financial habits. If you're building credit from scratch, it generally takes about six months of credit activity before there's enough activity to issue you a FICO® Score. You won't get an excellent score right away, though, because it takes time to develop your payment history. After you get a FICO® Score, you should expect it to take at least another 12 months to get an excellent score. If you're rebuilding your credit because of a previous problem, then the time it takes to get an excellent score will depend on what that problem was. It could be a matter of months or, for more serious issues like delinquent accounts or bankruptcies, it could take several years.

How do I maintain a high credit score?

The key to maintaining a high credit score is that you continue to make all your payments on time. Payment history is the factor that makes or breaks your credit score . Not only does it have the biggest impact on your score, it also takes a long time to build a solid payment history. And it only takes one missed payment to potentially knock your credit score down by over 100 points. Fortunately, a payment is only considered late if it's past-due by 30 days or longer. If you miss the due date but still pay within 29 days, you may get charged a late payment fee, but it's considered an on-time payment. You should also keep your credit utilization ratio as low as possible, as this is another factor that has a significant impact on your credit score. Try not to exceed 20% to 30% credit utilization to maintain your credit. However, even if your utilization gets too high and your score decreases, you can fix this within a month by paying down your balances.

Best Credit Cards for Excellent Credit of October 2020

By: Lyle Daly | Oct. 1, 2020

Oct. 1, 2020

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There's a long road to building excellent credit, but the perks are well worth the trouble. With a high credit score, you can qualify for just about any credit card on the market. Cards with the biggest sign-up bonuses, the longest zero-interest offers, and the best rewards rates are all on the table. It's just a matter of picking the card (or cards) that will benefit you the most. We've included all the best credit cards for excellent credit here so you can see what your options are.

The Ascent's picks of the best credit cards for excellent credit:

Travel and points transfers: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Travel and dining: Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Bonus cash back: Discover it® Cash Back
U.S. supermarkets and gas: Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
Flat-rate cash back: Citi® Double Cash Card – 18 month BT offer
Premium travel: The Platinum Card® from American Express
Balance transfers: Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card
Travel card with no annual fee: Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card
Dining and U.S. supermarkets: American Express® Gold Card
Bonus cash back of your choice: Bank of America® Cash Rewards credit card
Unlimited travel miles and sign-up bonus: Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card
Unlimited cash back: Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card

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Excellent credit opens up a world of financial opportunities, especially when it comes to credit cards. If there was a card you liked but weren't sure you could get, now it's within your reach. Instead of focusing on how to improve your credit, it's time to focus on how to maximize the value of your credit score. To help you with that, we've put together this guide on everything you need to know about excellent credit.

What is considered an excellent credit score?

The widely used FICO scoring model goes from 300 to 850, and one of the major credit bureaus, Experian, considers an excellent credit score to be from 800 to 850.

Other companies have their own idea of what an excellent credit score is and set the bar lower, such as a score of 720 or 740.

Once you have an excellent credit score, the exact number is more important for mortgages than it is for credit cards. If your score is 740 rather than 800, your credit card application probably wouldn't be denied, even when applying for the best credit cards. Either number will be good enough for just about any card. But that 60-point difference could change your annual percentage rate (APR) on a mortgage, costing you thousands more over the lifespan of the loan.

How can you make the most of an excellent credit score?

There are a few popular ways that you can make the most of an excellent credit score:

Refinance debt with credit cards or loans
Earn credit card rewards
Pay for expenses with zero-interest introductory offers

Each of these options can save you quite a bit of money, so it's a matter of choosing the one that fits your current financial needs. Below, we'll go over each option in detail.

Refinance debt

Refinancing can get you a lower interest rate. Once you have excellent credit, it makes sense to prioritize refinancing high-interest debt, since this both saves you money and cuts down the amount of time it takes to pay off debt. You can also consolidate multiple debts so that you only have one payment to make per month. The best ways to refinance are with a balance transfer credit card or a personal loan.

A balance transfer allows you to move the balance of one credit card to a new one. What makes the best balance transfer cards special is that they have 0% intro APRs on balance transfers, and some intro offers last for 12 months or longer. A 0% APR is obviously a much better deal than typical credit card APRs that can be 18% or higher.

The other option is to get a personal loan and use it to pay your debts. While you can usually only refinance credit card debt with a balance transfer card, you can refinance any type of debt with a personal loan. You can also get a loan for a longer length of time than the intro period on a balance transfer card. While personal loans don't offer 0% intro APRs, there are debt consolidation loans with low interest rates available. And of course, having excellent credit means you'll be able to access the best loan rates.

Earn credit card rewards

If you don't have high-interest debt to worry about, then you get to enjoy the fun part of using credit cards -- earning as much cash back or travel rewards as possible.

To do this, you should look for cards with the following:

A big sign-up bonus: Since sign-up bonuses are the fastest way to earn rewards, it makes sense to choose a card with a big bonus. You should also double check that you can meet the bonus requirements, particularly any spending minimum.
A high rewards rate: Some rewards cards offer a flat rate that applies to every purchase. Others offer more back in specific spending categories.

There's also a simple and effective strategy to maximize your credit card rewards. Instead of sticking with one credit card, use multiple cards.

You'll get more sign-up bonuses when you open multiple credit cards. It also allows you to earn more back on your regular spending, because you can choose the card that will earn you the most back for each purchase. For example, you could use a card that earns 3% back on dining when you go out to eat, and then use a card that earns 3% back at supermarkets when you buy your groceries.

You will have more to manage with multiple cards, and you need to be careful you don't take on too many cards with annual fees. But when done correctly, combining credit cards can get you much more back.

Pay for expenses with zero-interest offers

Consider using a 0% APR credit card if you have any upcoming expenses coming up that you can't quite afford. Obviously, these don't let you pay zero interest forever. Just like balance transfer offers, a 0% APR offer on purchases lasts for an introductory period. Depending on the card, this could be 12 months or longer.

Whenever possible, it's smarter to save the money you need so you can pay for expenses in full. You don't want to take on unnecessary debt. But if you do need to finance bills or a costly purchase that just can't wait, then a 0% APR card can help.

Reasons for a denial when you have excellent credit

The issue obviously wasn't your credit score, so what was it? When an applicant with excellent credit receives a denial, it's typically for one of the following reasons:

Your income is too low. Many credit cards have a minimum credit limit, such as $5,000 or $10,000. If the credit card company doesn't want to extend you that much credit because of your income, then it will deny your application.
You have too much credit with the card issuer. If you already have one or more credit cards with a card issuer, it may not want to give you any more credit. One potential workaround in this situation is to call and ask a representative if they could approve the application by reducing your credit limit on another card. This could open up the credit needed for the new card, without requiring that the card issuer extend you any more credit.
You've applied for too much credit recently. Each time you apply for credit, it results in a hard inquiry on your credit file. While these don't have a big effect on your credit score, card issuers may deny your application if you've been applying for new credit often.
You've opened too many credit accounts recently. Some card issuers also look at how many credit accounts you've opened recently and will deny your application if you've opened too many.

FAQs

Is it possible to get a perfect credit score?
It is possible to get a perfect credit score, which is 850 with the most popular credit scoring systems. However, since credit scores can fluctuate from month to month, it's difficult to maintain perfect credit.
To get a perfect credit score, you should:
- Always pay on time.
- Keep your credit utilization as low as possible.
- Build a lengthy credit history.
- Have both credit card and installment loan accounts.
- Limit how often you apply for new credit.
Even when you follow that advice, it's still difficult to attain a perfect credit score. There's also no need to make this a goal. A credit score of at least 720 to 760 is enough to qualify for all the best credit cards and to get the lowest interest rates on loans.
Can I improve an excellent credit score?

You can improve an excellent credit score by maintaining the habits that you've used to build your credit, including paying on time and keeping your credit utilization low. It does take more time to improve excellent credit because your score won't increase as quickly as it did when it was lower.
How long does it take to get an excellent credit score?

The amount of time it takes to get an excellent credit score depends on your credit history and your financial habits.
If you're building credit from scratch, it generally takes about six months of credit activity before there's enough activity to issue you a FICO® Score. You won't get an excellent score right away, though, because it takes time to develop your payment history. After you get a FICO® Score, you should expect it to take at least another 12 months to get an excellent score.
If you're rebuilding your credit because of a previous problem, then the time it takes to get an excellent score will depend on what that problem was. It could be a matter of months or, for more serious issues like delinquent accounts or bankruptcies, it could take several years.
How do I maintain a high credit score?

The key to maintaining a high credit score is that you continue to make all your payments on time. Payment history is the factor that makes or breaks your credit score. Not only does it have the biggest impact on your score, it also takes a long time to build a solid payment history. And it only takes one missed payment to potentially knock your credit score down by over 100 points.
Fortunately, a payment is only considered late if it's past-due by 30 days or longer. If you miss the due date but still pay within 29 days, you may get charged a late payment fee, but it's considered an on-time payment.
You should also keep your credit utilization ratio as low as possible, as this is another factor that has a significant impact on your credit score. Try not to exceed 20% to 30% credit utilization to maintain your credit. However, even if your utilization gets too high and your score decreases, you can fix this within a month by paying down your balances.

The Picks
Card	Rating	Great For
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card	Rating image, 5.0 out of 5 stars. 5.0 stars	Great For: Travel and points transfers
Chase Sapphire Reserve®	Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5 stars	Great For: Travel and dining
Discover it® Cash Back	Rating image, 5.0 out of 5 stars. 5.0 stars	Great For: Bonus cash back
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express	Rating image, 5.0 out of 5 stars. 5.0 stars	Great For: U.S. supermarkets and gas
Citi® Double Cash Card – 18 month BT offer	Rating image, 5.0 out of 5 stars. 5.0 stars	Great For: Flat-rate cash back
The Platinum Card® from American Express	Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5 stars	Great For: Premium travel
Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card	Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5 stars	Great For: Balance transfers
Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card	Rating image, 5.0 out of 5 stars. 5.0 stars	Great For: Travel card with no annual fee
American Express® Gold Card	Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5 stars	Great For: Dining and U.S. supermarkets
Bank of America® Cash Rewards credit card	Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5 stars	Great For: Bonus cash back of your choice
Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card	Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5 stars	Great For: Unlimited travel miles and sign-up bonus
Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card	Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5 stars	Great For: Unlimited cash back

About the Author

Lyle Daly

Lyle Daly is a personal finance writer who specializes in credit cards, travel rewards programs, and banking. He writes for The Ascent and The Motley Fool, and his work has appeared in USA Today and Yahoo! Finance. He was born in California but currently lives as a digital nomad with a home base in Colombia.

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Best Credit Cards for Excellent Credit of October 2020

The Ascent's picks of the best credit cards for excellent credit:

Great for: Travel and points transfers Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Bottom Line

Rewards

Annual Fee

Intro APR

Ongoing APR

Bonus

Highlights

Great for: Travel and dining Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Bottom Line

Rewards

Annual Fee

Intro APR

Ongoing APR

Bonus

Highlights

Great for: Bonus cash back Discover it® Cash Back

Bottom Line

Rewards

Annual Fee

Intro APR

Ongoing APR

Bonus

Highlights

Great for: U.S. supermarkets and gas Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

Bottom Line

Rewards

Annual Fee

Foreign Transaction Fee

Intro APR

Ongoing APR

Bonus

Highlights

Great for: Flat-rate cash back Citi® Double Cash Card – 18 month BT offer

Bottom Line

Rewards

Annual Fee

Intro APR

Ongoing APR

Bonus

Highlights

Great for: Premium travel The Platinum Card® from American Express

Bottom Line

Rewards

Annual Fee

Foreign Transaction Fee

Intro APR

Ongoing APR

Bonus

Highlights

Great for: Balance transfers Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card

Bottom Line

Rewards

Annual Fee

Intro APR

Ongoing APR

Bonus

Highlights

Great for: Travel card with no annual fee Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card

Bottom Line

Rewards

Annual Fee

Intro APR

Ongoing APR

Bonus

Highlights

Great for: Dining and U.S. supermarkets American Express® Gold Card

Bottom Line

Rewards

Annual Fee

Foreign Transaction Fee

Intro APR

Ongoing APR

Bonus

Highlights

Great for: Bonus cash back of your choice Bank of America® Cash Rewards credit card

Bottom Line

Rewards