The first question is do you pay on time.  If you want an excellent credit score, you should never miss a payment.  Even one late payment can set you back and using budgets or online bill pay can be easy way to ensure you are on top of it.

How much do you owe?  Do you carry credit card balances month to month?  If so, what is your utilization on your revolving lines of credit.  You should try to keep this below 15%.

Limit the amounts of credit you have.  You should avoid every credit card offer you get in the mail or offered to you in a store.  You should stick to just a few credit cards and don’t consistently add to the list.  This will help you develop a stronger credit history in regards to your average age.  Also, this will limit your credit inquiries or applications for credit.

Use different types of credit.  An excellent credit score will use many different types of credit.  This is commonly referred to as a healthy mix.  Having a mortgage or some other installment loan will so you can manage different forms of credit not just credit cards.

If your goal is to have an excellent credit score, you need to be always on top of it.  This is just another thing in your busy life.  But if you don’t you are sacrificing thousands in saved money.  The answer for people really serious about getting an excellent credit score is to sign up for credit monitoring.

OK, it does cost money, but any improvement in your credit score will pay off ten fold.  If you are checking your credit score on a regular basis it is costing you money any ways.   Remember credit report is free but not a credit score.  So if you are going to spend  $30 to get your credit score, you should just sign up for FICO® Quarterly Monitoring.  This is $50 a year and you get 4 reviews of your credit score and your FICO credit score.

This is not a bad deal considering a 3 in 1 credit report with just one credit score costs $39.  The idea of credit monitoring is something that will help you sleep at night.  Getting something like this shows you want to have not just a good score but an excellent one.

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This means you don’t want to just have twenty credit cards, but a range of different credit accounts.  It is best to have a mortgage, auto loan, installment loan, and some credit cards.  This shows you can manage all different types of debt and will positively effect your credit score.

Here is a little quote from MyFICO about consumer credit obligations:

On average, today’s consumer has a total of 13 credit obligations on record at a credit bureau. These include credit cards (such as department store charge cards, gas cards, or bank cards) and installment loans (auto loans, mortgage loans, student loans, etc.). Not included are savings and checking accounts (typically not reported to a credit bureau). Of these 13 credit obligations, 9 are likely to be credit cards and 4 are likely to be installment loans.

A common problem here for most American consumers is they have too many credit card accounts.  Stick to a few and don’t apply for every store credit card they offer you.  The 10% in the front might be great, but it could have some lasting effects on your credit score.

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