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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What is Considered an Excellent Credit Score?

As the current credit crunch has taken effect, the idea of not only what is a good credit score has changed, but so has an excellent one.  An excellent credit score is actually defined by the lender you are using.  For example, Eloan states an excellent credit score is one above 730.   MyFICO shows having a 760 or above will get you the best rate on a mortgage.

The best way to put it is the lender decides what the best interests are and the level of credit score you need to have to get them.

How Much Money will you Really Save?

That is a great question.  I think it is best to just look at the MyFICO website.  On their front page is a chart that shows how much money you will save on any combination of mortgage depending on your FICO score.  Comparing a good credit score to an excellent one one on a 30 year fixed $300,000 mortgage, the excellent score will save $14,400 over the life of the loan.

Not too much you think.  Well, consider this across all the loans in your life.  Include credit cards, auto loans and any other type of lending you do.  It really will add up.

Getting an Excellent Credit Score

If you are attempting to get an excellent credit score you will be at the top 10% to 15% of consumers.   The average American is somewhere around the 700 mark.  This isn’t bad but getting an excellent one will take effort.  This is a day to day practice.  Consider when you buy something at Target and the store offers you a store credit card for a 10% discount on your current purchase.  This 10% at the time would be great, but this is an hard inquiry on your credit report.  This can be the enemy of a excellent credit score.  They will prevent you from getting those few points you need to get there.

Also, carrying low balances is a day to day practices.  You need to make a conscience effect daily to control spending.  If you have even the idea that you can carry a large purchase for the next few months, you could slow your way to an excellent credit score.

People who have an excellent credit score know how it is calculated.  Furthermore, they consider thier actions and the effect it will have on thier credit worthiness.  Often the idea of having an excellent credit score is more rewarding then the 10% discount or the large purchase.

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