Maintaining an 800+ FICO and Perfect Credit

For many years I contemplated how to get my credit score over 800. It seemed like a road untraveled by American consumers. It also seemed that if you had long term credit relationships and you used your credit as a convenience instead of a necessity that it may become easier to achieve this level of credit stardom. That really wasn’t the case. Since my divorce over a decade ago I decided not to have dozens of credit cards like my ex-wife loved. I used cash for everything for years and if I didn’t have the money I didn’t make the purchase. This level of discipline came in handy once I started to rebuild my credit story and my business zoomed to success in the early 90’s.
As business grew I took an American Express card, with no preset spending limit, and a few gas cards. I only used Amex for business purposes and paid for all my gasoline purchases so I wouldn’t have to carry cash on those trips. As time went on a few other cards sent me offers with large credit lines. As I said earlier, my credit cards for convenience purposes only. What I mean by this is I paid all of the balances 100% each month. This was really for selfish reasons. I could buy what I could afford and if I paid it off monthly then it enabled me to use the banks money interest free until the bill came. This worked very well as became the foundation for my purchasing disciple.
Over the years I took out a car lease and paid it in full within a month of inception. I also took some HELOC (Home Equity Lines of Credit) loans to use for things I wanted. Building credit with the HELOC’s and paying them in full was a big help to jacking my score to the upper 700’s.
Here are some other critical things necessary to obtain and maintain an 800+ credit score
Pay all bills on time. This is probably the single most critical factor in the FICO calculation. If you're consistently paying off your cards each month your score will increase as much as 50 points. If you are always late and love giving those banks late fees, etc you score will plummet 100 points or so. I got high marks in this arena.
Think twice before closing accounts. Lenders are looking for consumers with long standing credit relationships that are paid on time and within the assigned credit limit. Due to the increase of suspicious activity and identity theft, you can’t afford to have too many unused open accounts. "Be judicious about the accounts you have," says Norm Magnuson, public affairs officer for the Consumer Data Industry Assn.

Minimize credit-card applications. This is a Major factor. Those who are constantly applying for credit loose massive points based on the inquiry system in place. Bingo. This is cited as a problem of most consumers, especially as times get tough and creditors lower available lines. The jerk reaction of many is to apply for more credit to make up for the lost limits. This actually hurts and lowers your score dramatically on all three of FICO scores. On average, a consumer has a total of 11 credit obligations, of which seven are credit cards and four are loans. Every time you apply for credit, a lender requests to view your report. This inquiry is noted and can reduce your overall score.
Keep balances low. The FICO score evaluates your total balances in relation to your available credit. This is known as credit utilization. Credit cards that are "maxed out" can lower your score. Try to pay off your monthly balances or only spend 10-15% of your credit limits.

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