Finally! I've reached my goal!
Seems like it's taken forever, but looking back perhaps not. Regardless, I've come a very long way and it's definitely been a test of patience. I read somewhere that it takes 20 years of history to reach 850. Well, 849 is close enough for me and in far less time. I believe my scores can be attributed most to the following:
- On time payments, each and every month and for several years. (Twice during the past 5 years I've made an AMEX payment 1 day post statement close date. Neither was reported late. Thanks AMEX!)
- A mix of credit, including a mortgage. The opinions differ on this, but I think the mortgage and it's age plays a crucial role in getting to 840. JMO.
- Low utilization, individually and overall, on all accounts.
The journey doesn't end here. Now on to keeping them. 
12/2014: TU 847 EQ 849 EX 849
08/2010: TU 820 EQ 805 EX 808 (from CU)
12/2009: TU 797 EQ 807
05/2009: TU 788 EQ 801
11/2008: TU 774 EQ 780 EX 794
Bravo, and congratulations!!!
@MsFICOGamePlayer wrote:Finally! I've reached my goal!
Seems like it's taken forever, but looking back perhaps not. Regardless, I've come a very long way and it's definitely been a test of patience. I read somewhere that it takes 20 years of history to reach 850. Well, 849 is close enough for me and in far less time. I believe my scores can be attributed most to the following:
- On time payments, each and every month and for several years. (Twice during the past 5 years I've made an AMEX payment 1 day post statement close date. Neither was reported late. Thanks AMEX!)
- A mix of credit, including a mortgage. The opinions differ on this, but I think the mortgage and it's age plays a crucial role in getting to 840. JMO.
- Low utilization, individually and overall, on all accounts.
The journey doesn't end here. Now on to keeping them.
12/2014: TU 847 EQ 849 EX 849
08/2010: TU 820 EQ 805 EX 808 (from CU)
12/2009: TU 797 EQ 807
05/2009: TU 788 EQ 801
11/2008: TU 774 EQ 780 EX 794
Congratulations! on a well-executed plan and dito to the above statements, especially about the mix helping.
I teetered on the 800 mark for a few years, but by adding a couple of always paid on-time unsecured accounts I blasted right through this week.
Due to not paying close enough attention to the AutoPay Amount, I too had a mishap that caused me to be 1 day late by reason of underpayment (Paid $200 instead of $221)
It was end of the Zero Interest Balance Transfer period and I screwed up by thinking I had one more month to go. (my bad!)
In my case it was CitiBank, but they were gracious enough to refund the late fee and it never reported.
@MsFICOGamePlayer wrote:Finally! I've reached my goal!
- A mix of credit, including a mortgage. The opinions differ on this, but I think the mortgage and it's age plays a crucial role in getting to 840. JMO.
I agree completely with most of your post and a mix of credit is definitely a plus especially when applying for installment loans but a mortgage or even a mix of credit is not necessary to obtain 840+ scores.
My scores are currently 843 Equifax, 848 Tranusunion, and 847 Experian. There hasen't been an installment loan reporting for me in 19 years. I currently only have 4 tradelines and they're all cards, 2 Chase revolving credit cards, one Amex revolver, and one Amex charge card. I have a perfect payment history, UTIL under 1%, a 22 year age of oldest account, and 10+ years AAoA. I also have two AU cards but based on my experiences they have little of no affect on my score under the newer Fico 8 system. My Equifax FICO 04 is considerably lower at 804 so that model may give a much higher weight to mix of credit.
My personal belief is that with no negative information present on a report reaching a 20 year oldest account and or an AAoA of 10 years along with a low UTIL makes the importance of mix of credit insignificant in reaching the 840 level. The resaoning behind this is based on what a credit score actually measures. I've seen a lot of people give descriptions of what a score measures but the title of the TransUnion model type is "Delinquency (90+ days) on existing accounts within 24 months" meaning your score reflects how likely they think it is that you'll have a serious late payment in the next two years with 850 meaning little of no chance and a 300 meaning a very high chance. I believe all of the major scores are measuring something very similar. Based on that a 20 year history and long AAoA gives the algorithim confidence in a persons reliablity and the low UTIL shows you're in full control of your finances which combined tells them that your odds of having a 90 late are very, very small. My anecdotal evidence supporting this is that I went from scores all around 800 to scores all in the 840s overnight when two backdated Amex accounts hit my report.
After having typed all of the out I think everyone probably should get, and keep if possible, an installment loan on their history and I'm considering adding one myself in the near future 
@Ubuntu wrote:
@MsFICOGamePlayer wrote:Finally! I've reached my goal!
- A mix of credit, including a mortgage. The opinions differ on this, but I think the mortgage and it's age plays a crucial role in getting to 840. JMO.
I agree completely with most of your post and a mix of credit is definitely a plus especially when applying for installment loans but a mortgage or even a mix of credit is not necessary to obtain 840+ scores.
Good luck getting 840 on FICO 04 without a mix of credit.
For FICO 08, it is definitely possibly but takes significantly longer.
I discovered this forum a year ago. My FICO scores were between 650 and 680. I had one credit card that was constantly maxed out. I used the advice of the community and reached out to have a disputed medical collection removed; I opened ( and did not use) a number of credit cards to improve my debt to credit available ratio (now 1 to 2%) ...AND continued to pay off debt on time. Check cards and balances daily; pay more than once each month; only 2 late payments made 5 1/2 yrs ago. I learned so much from this forum. One year later ....775/768/771 and officially a FICO High Achiever. Merry Christmas everyone and thank you!!!!
HiLine: What are FICO 04 and 08?
Katy: Congrats on your due diligence with credit and the resulting FICO scores. Keep up the good work.
