A 900 credit score is perfect and basically the holy grail of scores. A credit score is a measure of your creditworthiness. It is a three-digit number that tells a lender if you are fit to be given a loan. A higher credit score shows that you are more likely to repay your debt as agreed than a person with a lower credit score.
In Canada, the credit score ranges organize credit scores into different risk categories from Poor to Excellent. A 900 credit score is the highest possible credit score indicating absolute creditworthiness because there is such a low risk the borrower will default.
Imagine the benefits and luxury perks of having a perfect credit score; such bliss! If you have the ideal credit score, the finance industry will aggressively compete for your business. Purchases, expenses, and investments will be a walk in the park for you.
Here’s what a 900 credit score means in Canada and the benefits that come with it.
- What does it mean to have a 900 credit score?
- How does my credit score affect me?
- What a 900 credit score can do for fou
- Ways to improve your credit score to an All-Time High
- #1. Never miss a payment
- #2. Reduce your credit utilization ratio
- #3. Increase your credit limit
- #4. Don’t apply for new credit
- Conclusion
- FAQs
What does it mean to have a 900 credit score?
How would you feel if you checked your credit and discovered it’s a whopping 900? Super excited and proud of your achievements? Maybe even a little bit shocked?
According to the two leading credit bureaus in Canada—Equifax and TransUnion—a 900 credit score is the highest possible credit score you can achieve. It indicates that you have passed all the credit benchmarks with flying colours. These benchmarks are used to calculate your credit score and include:
- Credit Utilization Ratio
- Payment Behaviour
- Length of credit history
- Credit Inquiries
- Public Records
Many believe that it is impossible to perfectly satisfy all these conditions and get a credit score of 900. Others believe it is possible, but exceedingly rare. Either way, a 900 credit score is an excellent score and the best there is.
How does my credit score affect me?
A credit score impacts whether or not you can access money when you need it, and essentially, your quality of life. Potential employers, lenders, insurance providers, and most financial institutions use your credit score to assess your creditworthiness and even your character. This reality implies that a significant part of your life is impacted by how good or bad your credit score is.
If you have a good credit score, you should still work on levelling up to an excellent score, like 900 if you can, because your credit score can determine your standard of living. Some of the ways your credit score can affect you include:
#1. Access to credit & lending
If you need access to credit, like a car loan or mortgage, for example, your credit score can either make it possible or stand in the way. Your credit score helps determine whether or not your application will be approved, how much money you qualify for, and the interest you get.
If you have a lower credit score, your interest rate will be higher with a lower credit limit. If you have a higher credit score, your interest rate will be lower and could qualify you for a larger loan.
Annual fee: $48
Monthly maintenance fee: $6
Interest rate: 17,99 %
Consequently, your credit score has the power to limit your borrowing power and cause you to receive a smaller loan than what you actually need. A very poor credit score could prevent you from getting approved for lending altogether. A higher credit score, on the other hand, will leave you with better loan options and more of them.
#2. Employment
Have you ever had to consent to a credit check during a job interview? Potential employers can check your credit and the practice is becoming more common. The contents of your credit file can tell an employer a lot about your character. So, having a bad credit score could cost you a job!
#3. Leasing a car
In order to lease a car, you may need to pass a credit check. When you apply for a lease, most dealerships will check your credit too.
Checking your credit score will helps dealerships determine if you can be trusted to take care of their asset and make your payments on time. When you apply for a lease, most dealerships will check your credit too. If your credit is very poor, they are more likely to deny your application.
#4. Finding a place to live
Before any landlord rents out their property to you, they must evaluate if you are a desirable renter. Many landlords will run a credit check as part of the application process.
If your credit score is below average, you will have a hard time competing against other applicants with better credit. Landlords prefer tenants with good credit scores because it means they are less likely to default on their rent payments.
What a 900 credit score can do for fou
A 900 credit score is a perfect score, one sought after by a large number of people. Attaining such a score will make you the envy of your entire association.
It might be hard and take many years to hit a 900 credit score, but you can do it. In the meantime, Equifax considers 800 and up an ‘excellent’ score too, so there’s nothing to feel bad about if you’re still in the 800 Club.
Let's consider the benefits of having a perfect credit score. First and foremost, a 900 credit score can improve your lifestyle. It’s very unlikely anyone will deny your credit application with a high credit score, assuming you can afford the payments.
Instead, you will be the one having a hard time trying to pick the one that best suits your needs and goals. You won’t have a problem accessing the funds you need to achieve your goals.
When you apply for loans, you will have better options and the power to choose from several options with the best terms and interest rates. Not to mention, a 900 credit score gives you access to some of the most prestigious credit cards on the market.
Clearly, a 900 credit score can open you up to a new world of possibilities to live your best life.
- Monitor and track your credit score for free
- Protect your identity with ClearScore Protect
- Learn about credit easily on the blog
Ways to improve your credit score to an All-Time High
If your credit score is not something you are proud of, there are things you can do to improve it. Here are the best ways to increase your credit score:
#1. Never miss a payment
To improve your credit score, you not only need to pay your bills and debt obligations on time, you need to make the full payment. Remember, a credit score is an indication of how trustworthy you are, and your payment behaviour tells lenders whether or not you honour your loan contracts.
#2. Reduce your credit utilization ratio
Your credit utilization ratio is a number that tells lenders how you handle easy-to-access credit from your credit cards and lines of credit (LOCs). It measures how much you owe those specific credit products against the credit limit. For example, if your card has an amount of $10,000 on it and you charge up a balance of $3,000, then your credit utilization ratio is 30%.
A high credit utilization ratio shows that you are dependent on credit, which makes you look riskier to creditors because it could signal financial mismanagement or hardship. On the other hand, a lower credit utilization under 30% indicates that you do not depend on credit and are not accumulating consumer debt.
To lower your credit utilization ratio and boost your score, pay off your credit card balances in full each month. If you can’t, there’s another trick, see tip #3.
#3. Increase your credit limit
Every credit card and line of credit comes with a credit limit, which is the maximum amount you can spend. If you owe a balance that is more than 30% of the credit limit, it hurts your credit score. For example, if you have a credit card with a $1,000 limit, you don’t want to carry a balance higher than $300 because $300 is 30% of $1,000.
If you are unable to pay off the balance in full, consider asking your credit card company to increase the limit. Doing so will reduce the percentage of credit you have used relative to your credit limit, which can improve your credit score.
For example, increasing your credit card limit from $1,000 to $1,500 means that the same $300 balance is now only 20% of your credit limit, which is a lower credit utilization ratio and can boost your score. As long as you don’t charge more on the card and increase the balance, this can be a useful hack.
#4. Don’t apply for new credit
Every time you apply for credit and consent to a credit check, it is recorded on your credit report as an “Inquiry.” Inquiries can hurt your credit score, especially if there are several of them in a short period of time. To restrict the number of inquiries on your credit file, also called “hard checks” or “hard pulls,” only apply for credit cards and loans when you actually need them.
#5. Check your credit file often
The information in your credit file impacts your credit score, and that information is submitted to the credit bureaus by human beings. Mistakes happen and they can hurt your credit. Check your credit often to make sure everything is accurate and up to date.
You can use a free app like Borrowell to check your own credit as often as you want without hurting it. If you find a mistake, you can dispute errors on your Equifax report and errors on your TransUnion report.
- Monitor and track your credit score for free
- Learn about credit easily on the blog
- Get access to the credit builder*
Conclusion
A perfect credit score is not a myth and you can achieve it too. However, it will take a lot of time and discipline; patience is key. You can start to build your own perfect credit score with the little financial decisions you make today. So take out time to sit back, strategize and visualize your goals. Hard work pays off.
Financial freedom is attainable; all it takes is consistency and a little effort to build the perfect credit score. So keep up the excellent work, you're on to something excellent!
FAQs
In order to get a 900 credit score in Canada, you must have an impeccable record when it comes to making payments and staying out of credit card debt. You also need time on your side, since it takes many years to build up a perfect credit score.
Finally, you will need to manage different types of credit, and not apply for loans unless you need them.
Yes, there are people in Canada who have a perfect 900 credit score. However, credit scores are in constant flux from one month to the next. It’s hard to know how many people have a perfect 900 credit score at any given time. But we do know that 61% of Canadians have a very good credit score or better.
Yes indeed! A 900 credit score is the best score you can get. It is at an all-time high and will ensure you have maximum financial freedom.
It’s hard to tell exactly how many people have a perfect 900 credit score in Canada. What we do know is that some of you, roughly 6%, have an excellent score above 850.
- Monitor and track your credit score for free
- Learn about credit easily on the blog
- Get access to the credit builder*
About The Author: Arthur Dubois
Passionate about personal finance and financial technology, Arthur Dubois is a writer and SEO specialist at Hardbacon. Since his arrival in Canada, he’s built his credit score from nothing.
Arthur invests in the stock market but doesn’t pay any fees because he uses National Bank Direct Brokerage online broker and Wealthsimple’s robo-advisor. He pays for his subscriptions online with his KOHO prepaid card, and uses his Tangerine credit card for most of his in-store purchases. When he buys bitcoins, it’s with the BitBuy online platform. Of course it goes without saying that he uses the Hardbacon app so that he can manage all of his finances from one convenient place.
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