The Road to 850: How I Built My Credit Score to 820 and Climbing

My credit history is a Phoenix story. I entered adulthood with zero understanding of what credit scores were and how to manage my credit.

I started my credit journey at Best Buy. I bought a projector, the good ole days of watching movies in my room on the projector. I followed that with a motorcycle.

The dealership was eager to sell me the bike. They maxed out my available financing and put the rest on a store credit card. When I finished paying the note on my Suzuki Boulevard I paid $13,000 for it. The retail price was $6999.

Worth it!

I fell on financial hard times due to childish stupidity and a penchant for marijuana.

My credit score went into the toilet.

I signed up for one of those shady debt consolidation programs and they went bankrupt.

Saddled with tons of debt from frivolous spending I worked my ass off to pay off all my creditors. Once I finished I decided to close all of my credit cards.

This was one of the biggest mistakes I made.

Considering I’ve made all of the mistakes a borrower can make and still managed to right the ship and get an above 800 credit score, I want to share with you some things that I learned the hard way that they do not tell you in the cookie cutter articles on NerdWallet.

Nine tips to get an above 800 credit score

Never Close your first credit card: I cannot stress this enough. Your credit history is based on the oldest credit card you have.

Choose wisely: I would recommend opening a line of credit with your bank. If you open a store credit card and they use some obscure provider you run the risk of them closing the line of credit.

Your first credit card should be with your bank.

Open one line of credit a year: If you are working and making money you should expand your available credit. This will help you never go above the ten percent threshold of spending.

Your credit score is highly correlated with the amount of debt you spend relative to your limit. The larger the limit the better you can stay under ten percent.

What you Measure you manage: Open a credit karma account. I’ve used credit karma for years and it’s a great way to stay on top of your credit.

I was at sea one day and received an email from Credit Karma asking if I tried to open a new credit card. I said no and they handled the rest.

They prevented someone from stealing my credit while I was floating off the coast of South Korea.

Take advantage of bonuses: I like cashback and miles. My family just flew across the US twice for $20. We did this because I opened an Aviator Mastercard and received the welcome bonus of 60,000 sky miles.

I also redeemed twenty dollars in cashback on my main credit card this month.

Why spend one dollar when you can spend ninety-eight cents?

Set auto pay: One of the big things that hurt your account is missing payments. You need to set auto-pay to hit the minimum monthly payment. Overpay when you can afford it.

Keep a zero balance: It’s a common misconception that maintaining a balance on your card is good for your score. This is not true. Pay it off. Never pay interest unless you have to.

Rob Peter to pay Paul: Take advantage of balance transfers when you open new credit lines. Make sure you only do balance transfers to cards with a balance transfer fee of 3% or lower.

American Express offered an account to me one time with no balance transfer fee and no interest for a year.

If your balance is high and you know you can’t pay it off in full by the end of the month, consider a balance transfer as an option to lower your interest expense.

Shop around at the same time: This is a pretty common piece of advice but it is important to mention. Multiple dings on your score in the same period do not affect it. If you are going to shop for a car or a house do it within the same month. This will lower the effect it has on your score. Credit bureaus see them together and know you are shopping.

These are the main ways that I raised my score from 400 to 820. These are things you rarely hear mentioned in the how-to manage your credit score articles on the internet.

The main thing you need to remember is never let the balance climb too high above the ten percent threshold. If a creditor gives you a ten thousand dollar credit limit, consider it a one thousand dollar credit card. Anything above one thousand will hurt your score.

You can fix your credit score.

You need to pay your creditors first and never miss a payment. Set your account to auto-draft for the minimums. If your bank account is so low that you can’t make a $30 payment each month then do not open any credit cards.

Build a safety net first, then build your credit score.

For more information about building your credit score check out my friend Buzzy Bea’s story:

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. The author is not a financial advisor. Readers should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Information is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. Use at your own risk. (AI-Generated Disclaimer)