What more can I do to improve my credit score?

Question

The earliest history of any credit lines for me is roughly 5 years back. I have 1 credit card, and when I graduated from college I had 7 college loans. I rent my apartment, and pay for utilities/cable. As far as my credit card is concerned, I have never carried a balance, and never been late. As far as my college loans, I have never missed a payment, always paying more than the minimum payment(usually triple), and have already paid off 3 of the 7 loans. As far as any other bill, I have never missed a payment, even by a single day.

Maybe I am missing something in the calculation of the credit score itself, but it would seem to me that I should have a perfect credit score. Don't get me wrong, my credit score is good, but I don't know how else you can show a better credit-worthiness. Any idea of what else they could be looking for?

Answer 1

Even without seeing your score or other detail, the obvious thing you are lacking is time.

Five years isn't very long. High credit scores take a lot of history. It isn't just what is in your history that counts, but also how long that history is.

Getting on the right track is good, but there is a distance to go on it too.

Answer 2

Don't get me wrong, my credit score is good, but I don't know how else you can show a better credit-worthiness. Any idea of what else they could be looking for?

A perfect credit score in a properly calibrated system would either be the one person with the absolute best likelihood of paying back, or perhaps someone who will never default. These are both future looking things, and the scoring system is designed to use historically predictive data. The system is actuarial, not behavioral. What this means is the longer the credit history, the more confident the statistics are, and the better your score.

The point here is that the top score is probably some old dude with a billion dollar estate, who barely needs credit. It's not a system for rewarding past behavior, so there's no requisite that you be able to do anything to fix it. So once you reach a certain point on the scale, things are mostly out of your control.

The good news is that credit score is not the only thing that determines whether people lend to you. Things like ability to repay (ie paystubs of a stable job), and equity (downpayment) also matter.

Answer 3

There are different kinds of debt rated differently by the agencies: for example, I have heard people with mortgages get rated much higher by one of the agencies than those without.

Also, the lender carries weight as far as Experian is concerned. My credit card with Wells Fargo has higher weight than the one I have with DCU in their eyes.

I am in search for some documentation (not) supporting the above myself.

Also, when you say you never carried a balance: does that mean your statement balances were (almost) zero? That's rated as bad as no credit available to you.

Answer 4

Ask for a credit limit increase on your card, and/or apply for another card. One credit inquiry will not hurt you, but a big increase in available credit will help you a lot.