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I dont think he meant an actual perfect credit score. I think he meant its flawless, meaning no missed payments ever. Its not possible to get a perfect 850 from what I have been told. Kind of like its not possible to get a perfect score in gymnastics, etc.
"Who's Perfect? According to Fair, Isaac, not too many people. Approximately 11% of the population has a FICO score of 800+, with just 1% or so achieving the magic 850 number."
I use my bank's ebill system and always just pay the full balance on the day it is due. Done this for years and years and have never had a problem. No need to pay any earlier than the latest day the biller requires payment as my bank guarantees my payment will be made by the date I select.
"Who's Perfect? According to Fair, Isaac, not too many people. Approximately 11% of the population has a FICO score of 800+, with just 1% or so achieving the magic 850 number."
But the goal shouldn't be perfect credit, it should be having money.
I never remember to pay mine off on a certain day. I don't use mine very often, just enough to keep them open, or if I'm buying something online, or something large. So I usually just log in a few days later and pay them off. If I waited until the due date, I would forget, and end up paying interest. I have 0 late payments on my credit, and an 800+ score and I am a little neurotic about keeping it that way. If I didn't do it this way, I would miss payments left and right and have a score in the 500s.
However, at the time in my life when I was carrying a balance, I had it set up to automatically make the minimum payment on the due date, just so I would never have a "late payment", and then I would go in and manually make additional payments when I had the money to do so.
But the goal shouldn't be perfect credit, it should be having money.
I didn't mean to start a controversy. I just was responding to another poster who mentioned he had a perfect score and one who doubted that was possible.
The Motley Fool link actually points out that carrying a balance on credit cards favors a higher score and that the formula is designed to tell merchants and lenders how a person handles credit. Lenders want people to borrow money. Those of us who pay off our credit cards every month are not making money for lenders and may actually have slightly lower scores for that reason. So the goal should indeed not be to necessarily have the perfect FICO score, since doing so may keep less money in your wallet.
But people who manage their finances well can have both excellent credit scores and money.
I never remember to pay mine off on a certain day. I don't use mine very often, just enough to keep them open, or if I'm buying something online, or something large. So I usually just log in a few days later and pay them off. If I waited until the due date, I would forget, and end up paying interest. I have 0 late payments on my credit, and an 800+ score and I am a little neurotic about keeping it that way. If I didn't do it this way, I would miss payments left and right and have a score in the 500s.
However, at the time in my life when I was carrying a balance, I had it set up to automatically make the minimum payment on the due date, just so I would never have a "late payment", and then I would go in and manually make additional payments when I had the money to do so.
You don't have to wait until the due date to set it up. Almost any bank these days has ebilling. They automatically alert you when a bill has been sent (usually at least 30 days before payment is due). You're literally 1-2 clicks away from submitting a payment that they set up for you on the due date for the payment in full. You never have to remember yourself and you never miss a payment
I've gone off of nothing but ebill auto-alerts for years and never had an issue and never missed a payment and I don't have to remember when anything is ever due.
You don't have to wait until the due date to set it up. Almost any bank these days has ebilling. They automatically alert you when a bill has been sent (usually at least 30 days before payment is due). You're literally 1-2 clicks away from submitting a payment that they set up for you on the due date for the payment in full. You never have to remember yourself and you never miss a payment
I've gone off of nothing but ebill auto-alerts for years and never had an issue and never missed a payment and I don't have to remember when anything is ever due.
That only works if you check your email regularly. I check mine about once every week or two.
That only works if you check your email regularly. I check mine about once every week or two.
I don't get alerts via email myself, I get alerts on my phone for some things, others I get no alerts from at all.
Do you log in to your bank account only once every week or two? I log in to my main bank account a couple times each week, even if it is just for 5 minutes. The alerts are right there when I log in.
I don't get alerts via email myself, I get alerts on my phone for some things, others I get no alerts from at all.
Do you log in to your bank account only once every week or two? I log in to my main bank account a couple times each week, even if it is just for 5 minutes. The alerts are right there when I log in.
Yeah, I log in to my main bank account, which is where one of my two cards is with about once a week, maybe a little more often, but I only check the alert section occasionally. And I only log into Chase, who has my other card, when I need to make a payment. The phone thing wouldn't work either, I have a plain flip phone, with a prepaid account on it, which I only use about 20 times a year. I'm just not a great candidate for ebilling alerts. All my bills, except my mortage, which is autodeducted, still come in paper form. We pay most of them electronically, but we get the bills in the mail.
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