Average Us Credit Score
Q. We are finally ready to buy a house. I have always thought that because of how we handle our finances, we would have immaculate credit scores. However, because of this house buying experience, I had to figure out just HOW Immaculate it really is. We actually don't have as high a score as we'd thought. We scored a 759 out of 850. This has us puzzled. Just what does one have to do to get 800??? (Or dare I dream of 850??). We make good incomes (six figures), and we have no debt. We don't buy new cars, so we have no car payments. We have never had a late payment. We have owned credit cards since age 18 (we are 34 now). Is it because we don't have long enough of a history? Just how far back do they look?? Do we need like 25 or 30 years of history to get a better score? I always thought they only take the last 7 years of history (ie when people have bankrupcies, they only go back 7 years, right).
A. I think the ideal candidate would be 5 years and 11 months into a six year car loan with a perfect payment history and 29 years and 11 months into a 30 year mortgage with a perfect payment history. You don't have any installment loans other than some small college loans. If you've never owned a house before and you've never taken a car loan, then you can't have perfect credit. OTOH, the credit you have is plenty good enough. Just keep doing what you're doing and you'll never have to worry about your credit score. .