816 Credit Score: Is it Good or Bad?

How to improve your 816 Credit Score

A FICO^® Score of 816 is well above the average credit score of 714. It's nearly as good as credit scores can get, but you still may be able to improve it a bit.

More importantly, your score is on the low end of the Exceptional range and fairly close to the Very Good credit score range (740-799). A Very Good score is hardly cause for alarm, but staying in the Exceptional range can mean better chances of approval on the very best credit offers.

Among consumers with FICO^® credit scores of 816, the average utilization rate is 7.7%.

The best way to determine how to improve your credit score is to check your FICO^® Score. Along with your score, you'll receive a report that uses specific information in your credit report that indicates why your score isn't even higher.

Because your score is extraordinarily good, none of those factors is likely to be a major influence, but you may be able to tweak them to get even closer to perfection.

Why you should be pleased with an Exceptional FICO^® Score

A credit score in the Exceptional range reflects a longstanding history of excellent credit management. Your record of on-time bill payment, and prudent handling of debt is essentially flawless.

Late payments 30 days past due are rare among individuals with Exceptional credit scores. They appear on just 2.4% of the credit reports of people with FICO^® Scores of 816.

People like you with Very Good credit scores are attractive customers to banks and credit card issuers, who typically offer borrowers like you better-than-average lending terms. These may include opportunities to refinance older loans at better rates than you were able to get in years past, and chances to sign up for credit cards with enticing rewards as well as relatively low interest rates.

Monitor and manage your Exceptional credit score

A FICO^® Score of 816 is an accomplishment built up over time. It takes discipline and consistency to build up an Exceptional credit score. Additional care and attention can help you keep hang on to it.

Whether instinctively or on purpose, you're doing a remarkable job navigating the factors that determine credit scores:

Utilization rate on revolving credit. Utilization, or usage rate, is a measure of how close you are to “maxing out” credit card accounts. You can calculate it for each of your credit card accounts by dividing the outstanding balance by the card's borrowing limit, and then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage. You can also figure your total utilization rate by dividing the sum of all your card balances by the sum of all their spending limits (including the limits on cards with no outstanding balances).

If you keep your utilization rates at or below 30%— on all accounts in total and on each individual account—most experts agree you'll avoid lowering your credit scores. Letting utilization creep higher will depress your score, and approaching 100% can seriously drive down your credit score. Utilization rate is responsible for nearly one-third (30%) of your credit score.

Late and missed payments matter a lot. If late or missed payments played a major part in your credit history, you wouldn't have an Exceptional credit score. But keep on mind that no single factor helps your credit score more significantly than prompt payment behavior, and few things can torpedo a near-perfect score quicker than missing a payment.

Time is on your side. Length of credit history is responsible for as much as 15% of your credit score.If all other score influences hold constant, a longer credit history will yield a higher credit score than a shorter one.

Credit applications and new credit accounts typically have short-term negative effects on your credit score. When you apply for new credit or take on additional debt, credit-scoring systems flag you as being at greater risk of being able to pay your bills. Credit scores drop a small amount when that happens, but typically rebound within a few months, as long as you keep up with all your payments. New credit activity can contribute up to 10% of your overall credit score.

Debt composition. The FICO^® credit scoring system tends to favor multiple credit accounts, with a mix of revolving credit (accounts such as credit cards that enable you to borrow against a spending limit and make monthly payments of varying amounts) and installment loans (e.g., car loans, mortgages and student loans, with set monthly payments and fixed payback periods). Credit mix is responsible for about 10% of your credit score.

When public records appear on your credit report they can have severe negative impacts on your credit score. Entries such as bankruptcies do not appear in every credit report, so they cannot be compared to other credit-score influences in percentage terms, but they can overshadow all other factors and severely lower your credit score.

The average mortgage loan amount for consumers with Exceptional credit scores is $246,101. People with FICO^® Scores of 816 have an average auto-loan debt of $21,347.

Protect your Exceptional credit score

People with Exceptional credit scores can be prime targets for identity theft, one of the fastest-growing criminal activities.

85% of identity theft incidents involve fraudulent use of credit cards and account information.

A credit score monitoring service is like a home security system for your score. It can alert you if your score starts to slip and, if it starts to dip below the Exceptional range of 800-850, you can act quickly to try to help it recover.

An identity theft protection service can alert you if there is suspicious activity detected on your credit report, so you can react before fraudulent activity threatens your Exceptional FICO^® Score.