800 Credit Score

An 800 credit score. That is quite impressive. Not many people attain the coveted 800 status, and those that do seem to have unlimited buying power. But it’s important to know what an 800 score means and doesn’t mean. Here are the facts and myths about 800 credit scores.

800 Credit Score Myth: To get an 800 credit score, get rid of all your credit cards.

800 Credit Score Fact:

One of the worst things you can do for your credit score is to remove all means of credit. Sure, if you’ve got six credit cards, get rid of a few, but you need to have some credit or debt just to show the credit agencies you can handle it. Remember, the purpose of the credit score is to assess your level of risk. If you never borrow anything, they will never know how much difficulty you have paying it back.

800 Credit Score Myth: When you hit an 800 score, lenders are obligated to give you a loan.

800 Credit Score Fact:

Lenders are under no obligation to grant you credit, and it’s not impossible for a lender to see something in your credit report that he doesn’t like and refuse to offer you credit on that basis. Remember, the 800 credit score is just the pretty picture on the cover of the book, the one that gets you reading. The borrower is the book inside, and the lender will have no problem setting it aside if the contents aren’t any good.

800 Credit Score Myth: An 800 credit score can never go down.

800 Credit Score Fact:

There is no “rating floor” when it comes to credit scores. The credit agencies keep taking reports every month and the scores are adjusted accordingly. If you fail to stick to the best borrowing practices, your score can most definitely go down. This is why it is important to continually monitor your credit score. You’ll see as your score changes along with your credit activity and behavior. You can get regular credit monitoring by subscribing to CreditScore.com. Email alerts will notify you if there is any significant change to your report and score, so if you pay off a nice chunk of your mortgage watch the impact on your score.

800 Credit Score Myth: An 800 credit score is not that difficult to maintain.

800 Credit Score Fact:

In fact, an 800 credit score can be the hardest to maintain, simply because there is little room for improvement. You will have to work hard to find a factor that you can improve upon to raise your score, so if it goes down, unless you can identify specifically why, it may be tough to bring it back up again. On the other hand, if your credit rating is 800, when it goes down, it may be so obvious what the reason is that you have no problem bringing it back.

Learn what a 700 credit score means.