topic Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

Gornet — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 06:59:29 GMT

Just wondering how long it takes people who are new to credit! Thanks!

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

j_casteel — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 07:01:00 GMT

YMMV

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 07:05:43 GMT

Around the 3 year mark if you have no file. AU cards can ge you there in a year.

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

Bman70 — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 07:21:12 GMT

Doesn't FICO8 ignore AU accounts for scoring? And OP, do you want the number for its own sake, or to get favorable conditions for a loan or credit card? You don't need 800 to get top offers

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 07:24:28 GMT

@Bman70 wrote:
Doesn't FICO8 ignore AU accounts for scoring? And OP, do you want the number for its own sake, or to get favorable conditions for a lore oan or credit card? You don't need 800 to get top offers

FICO08 can ignore AU accounts if it deems you are piggybacking...or not. No one knows for sure how it decides that you are. Howver, banks still use the old FICO models that do automatically factor them in.

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

nyancat — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 08:14:28 GMT

@Gornet wrote:
Just wondering how long it takes people who are new to credit! Thanks!

For MOST people, ideally never. If you get much above 760, you're wasting potential sign-up bonuses with no reward. You need about 740 for the best interest rates on most loans, give yourself some safety, but not too much. Maintain your FICO around 750-760 for best results. If it goes higher, app for a credit card that gets you a nice sign-up bonus

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

ztnjpv — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 12:03:01 GMT

nyacat said:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

+1 Agreed. I have been twittling my thumbs for a little while sitting on an 800+ score. And for what? Great sign ups galore and I'm not grabbing any. I'm getting ready for a little app spree myself:

On my radar: CSP, Freedom, maybe Marriot (70,000 points!) and then Amex everyday to offset some account age. Not suire if that's a little overzealous....even with an 800+ score. I'm going to be doing an SBA loan and a mortgage for rental home purchase soon. That's a lot of apps in a short time but I don't see 4 card apps (1 backdated with Amex) temporarily knocking my score down more than 30-40 points.

As for the OP. I hit it in about 2 1/2 years. I had lots of good accounts and more than a few baddies when I started. I got all but 2 of them removed and one has since fallen off and the other is old and minimal. My wife has perfect credit made me an AU on hert oldest card (big boost in the beginning). I then apped for cards in phases, always carry extremely low utlilization and have watched my scores keep rising.

I actually temporarily lost some ground toward 800 when my oldest account fell off after 20 years. It was foolishly closed back in college. I was already lucky to have it stay that long. Moreover, with a few fewer card apps at certain times, I probably would have hit 800 even sooner but then fallen back down with some new cards after that. But for what? I wanted the cards sooner or later so I have no regrets. 800+ has little use except to be a parachute for app sprees to stay in the mid upper 700s.

Get a strong AU or two if you can. Always a big help. Plan ahead. bunch up good no-fee some long term cards (amex too...very important!) and keep them open. That;s the back bone of a strong, robust file with an old AAoA over time.

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

ficonightmare — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 12:20:14 GMT

My scores vary from 765-814 depending on what my report shows at any given time. Too many balances, my score drops, too high utility, it drops again. Open a new card, my AAoA changes plus the HP and again I lose points.

So very few people always manage to maintain a score of 800 and above. It's nearly impossible.

Plus like others have said, what's the point? If you're looking to get a loan, the best rate doesn't require 800, not even close..

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

Dw4250 — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 14:46:05 GMT

@ficonightmare wrote:
My scores vary from 765-814 depending on what my report shows at any given time. Too many balances, my score drops, too high utility, it drops again. Open a new card, my AAoA changes plus the HP and again I lose points.

So very few people always manage to maintain a score of 800 and above. It's nearly impossible.

Plus like others have said, what's the point? If you're looking to get a loan, the best rate doesn't require 800, not even close..

Rule of thumb is 720+ will qualify you for best rates on almost everything; 750+ will give you the best rates for mortgage, auto, LOC, credit cards, etc. To be safe and allow a little cushion, try to aim for a 750-760 score.

Anything beyond that is just showing off...lol! People who have an 830+ score owe as much to statistical noise/random variation as to great performance on their credit reports. Don't get me wrong...I would gladly take an 830 score! But in terms of getting best terms from lenders, 750=830

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

HiLine — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 21:21:27 GMT

Hopefully I'll be able to report back based on my own example. I started out 2 and a half years ago with only credit cards, then added an auto loan a few months ago. With pretty high utilization and a bunch of recent accounts, I'm happy with a score approaching 750. With utilization optimized I'm confident I can hit 760 now. As for 800, I think it's doubtful that 6 months of gardening can lead to a 40 points jump. I'd guess 3.5 years is the minimum.

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

Revelate — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 22:23:45 GMT

Don't know, I'd love to have a no file to experiment on:

3 secured cards and 2 secured installment loans right off the bat, and then just let the clock run without any more tradelines and presumed no derogatories and just map out the score over time.

I don't know on the 3 year mark, I haven't seen many people report much data past 2 years if they were a new file, but presumably there are some out there and it's undoubtedly easier under FICO 08 than it was under FICO 04 or earlier.

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

ficonightmare — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 22:41:32 GMT

Just checked all my reports.

My first EQ on 10/25/2010 was 711, and had some 90 day lates. All the lates went back to 2004-2006.

Then the first time I hit 800 (806 to be exact) was on 6/4/11. So it took 8 months to go from 711 to 806.

But, I had no derogs on my 6/4/11 report since all lates were gone.

My first report with TU was also on 10/25/10 and was 725. It had pretty much the same info. as EQ, except for one of lates, it showed
"Payment after Charge off/Collection". This wasn't correct though and I remember trying to clean it up with Cap 1 and TU.

On 7/31/11 I hit 801 for the first time with TU. Same as with EQ, no derogs, all my lates were gone.

So there you go.

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 23:27:48 GMT

@Dw4250 wrote:
@ficonightmare wrote:
My scores vary from 765-814 depending on what my report shows at any given time. Too many balances, my score drops, too high utility, it drops again. Open a new card, my AAoA changes plus the HP and again I lose points.

So very few people always manage to maintain a score of 800 and above. It's nearly impossible.

Plus like others have said, what's the point? If you're looking to get a loan, the best rate doesn't require 800, not even close..
+1

Rule of thumb is 720+ will qualify you for best rates on almost everything; 750+ will give you the best rates for mortgage, auto, LOC, credit cards, etc. To be safe and allow a little cushion, try to aim for a 750-760 score.

Anything beyond that is just showing off...lol! People who have an 830+ score owe as much to statistical noise/random variation as to great performance on their credit reports. Don't get me wrong...I would gladly take an 830 score! But in terms of getting best terms from lenders, 750=830

I think you've just given me a new goal score of 750-760! I'm a new file at 9 months old and I'm up at 737.

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

HiLine — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 02:21:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Dw4250 wrote:
@ficonightmare wrote:
My scores vary from 765-814 depending on what my report shows at any given time. Too many balances, my score drops, too high utility, it drops again. Open a new card, my AAoA changes plus the HP and again I lose points.

So very few people always manage to maintain a score of 800 and above. It's nearly impossible.

Plus like others have said, what's the point? If you're looking to get a loan, the best rate doesn't require 800, not even close..
+1

Rule of thumb is 720+ will qualify you for best rates on almost everything; 750+ will give you the best rates for mortgage, auto, LOC, credit cards, etc. To be safe and allow a little cushion, try to aim for a 750-760 score.

Anything beyond that is just showing off...lol! People who have an 830+ score owe as much to statistical noise/random variation as to great performance on their credit reports. Don't get me wrong...I would gladly take an 830 score! But in terms of getting best terms from lenders, 750=830
I think you've just given me a new goal score of 750-760! I'm a new file at 9 months old and I'm up at 737.

Out of curiosity, what scoring model do you rely on and how many accounts do you have? In any case, I don't think you're very far from your goal

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 03:05:12 GMT

@HiLine wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Dw4250 wrote:
@ficonightmare wrote:
My scores vary from 765-814 depending on what my report shows at any given time. Too many balances, my score drops, too high utility, it drops again. Open a new card, my AAoA changes plus the HP and again I lose points.

So very few people always manage to maintain a score of 800 and above. It's nearly impossible.

Plus like others have said, what's the point? If you're looking to get a loan, the best rate doesn't require 800, not even close..
+1

Rule of thumb is 720+ will qualify you for best rates on almost everything; 750+ will give you the best rates for mortgage, auto, LOC, credit cards, etc. To be safe and allow a little cushion, try to aim for a 750-760 score.

Anything beyond that is just showing off...lol! People who have an 830+ score owe as much to statistical noise/random variation as to great performance on their credit reports. Don't get me wrong...I would gladly take an 830 score! But in terms of getting best terms from lenders, 750=830
I think you've just given me a new goal score of 750-760! I'm a new file at 9 months old and I'm up at 737.
Out of curiosity, what scoring model do you rely on and how many accounts do you have? In any case, I don't think you're very far from your goal

MyFico. I'm going off of the EQ08 score from score watch. I know my bank goes off of 04. My TU is a bit lower because one of my two CCs doesn't report to them. I have no clue what my EX is because I can't buy it outright and I would need a lender to give it to me at the time of an application. I did pull it on here once and it was low 700s but once I found out it was a FAKO I quit relying on it. I would just like to see one of them up there and since a lot of credit card companies seem to use EQ08 I'm perfectly happy with that one being up there.

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

JagerBombs89 — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 16:07:49 GMT

6 years seemed to do it for me and I am only above 800 on TU as both EX and EQ are sitting at 785. I started off with zero credit and have a mortgage, multiple paid auto loans, multiple credit cards, etc and have 0 delinquencies. Here is where I detailed my accounts:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/My-Credit-Journey-snapshot-Road-to-800/m-p/2674891

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

HiLine — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 16:33:55 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
Don't know, I'd love to have a no file to experiment on:

3 secured cards and 2 secured installment loans right off the bat, and then just let the clock run without any more tradelines and presumed no derogatories and just map out the score over time.

I don't know on the 3 year mark, I haven't seen many people report much data past 2 years if they were a new file, but presumably there are some out there and it's undoubtedly easier under FICO 08 than it was under FICO 04 or earlier.

Let's just say we're not trying to find the absolute minimum, but we're interested in knowing the minimum under normal circumstances. Let's say someone new to credit building, getting a few credit cards and 1 or 2 installment loans in a span of 1-2 years to build credit, and then apply minimally in the next few years. How long does it take this person to achieve 800? So far, 6 years is the crowing champion

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 11:28:32 GMT

I had nothing on mine until I purchase a car last year. I'm showing 9 months of credit as well, with the car loan reporting. I just got my first credit card, reporting for 1 month so far with 1% utilization. No baddies, everything paid as agreed and I'm at 720. In 6 more months of reporting, it should go up even more as I plan to stay disciplined. I'm more excited about finally establishing a FICO score though.

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

tonyjones — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 01:15:16 GMT

FICO 08 for AU's determine if you are piggybacking or not by how many revolving credit accounts y ou have open in your name only (Individual). If someone has 5 AU's but dont' have any Individual accounts, then that's a red flag. Now if you have an AU account (e.g. AMEX Authorized User) but you have four individual accounts in your name (meaning Primary) then it will take the AU into account also. Hope that helps!

Re: How long does it take to get a 800 credit score?

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 05:35:15 GMT

@tonyjones wrote:
FICO 08 for AU's determine if you are piggybacking or not by how many revolving credit accounts y ou have open in your name only (Individual). If someone has 5 AU's but dont' have any Individual accounts, then that's a red flag. Now if you have an AU account (e.g. AMEX Authorized User) but you have four individual accounts in your name (meaning Primary) then it will take the AU into account also. Hope that helps!

How do you know this? Personal experience? I've read that many people have an AU account from their spouse and their own cards, and FICO 08 still does not seem to score the AU.