Getting a Perfect Credit ScoreYour Guide to...

The perfect credit score.

Why is Your Credit Score Important?

Your credit score is a measurement of your historical reliability with financial obligations.

Lenders care—a lot—about your credit.

They want to see that you: Repay your debts Avoid taking out too many credit accounts Avoid tax liens and other legal mishaps

Credit Breakdown

Score breakdown: Excellent: 781 – 850 Good: 661 – 780 Fair: 601 – 660 Poor: 501 – 600 Challenged: Below 500

850

Types of Credit Scores

1. Personal Credit ScoreAffected by personal loans, automobile loans, mortgages, student loans, and personal credit cards.

Types of Credit Scores

2. Business Credit ScoreIf your business has been an excellent borrower, your business credit score might offset a less-than-great personal score.

Types of Credit Scores

3. FICO SBSS ScoreFICO’s SBSS (Small Business Scoring Service) combines your personal and business credit scores.

What Goes Into a Credit Score?

Amount of debt you have

Payment history (including bankruptcies and judgments)

Tax liens

Credit utilization (or how much of your credit is being used)

Hard credit inquiries

Age of your open credit accounts

Diversity of credit accounts

What to Do:

Pay your Bills on Time, in Full

Use Your Available Credit Conservatively

Monitor Your Credit Reports (& Correct Any Errors You Find)

Become an Authorized User on a Trusted Friend's Account

Keep Personal & Business Credit Separate

Be Patient (Growing Your Credit Score Takes Time)

DON’T

What Not to Do:

Don’t Close Old Accounts

Don’t Default!

Don't Let Your Debt Match Your Income

Don’t Assume a Lot of Debt Quickly

Don’t File for Bankruptcy (if you can help it)

Don’t Use Only One Type of Credit

Do You Need to Be Perfect?

In the end, don’t worry too much if you only have a score of

There’s not much 850 can get you that 750 can’t (apart from the satisfaction of being perfect).

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