What does a 789 credit score mean?

With excellent credit, your credit scores become more of a bridge and less of a roadblock — a high score can help you qualify for premium rewards credit cards, auto loans and mortgages with the best terms.

Having excellent credit scores doesn’t guarantee approval, but it certainly helps. That’s because your excellent scores make you more attractive to lenders, who may see it as an indicator that you pose less of a risk. And the more they trust you to repay the money you borrow, the less they need to hedge their bets with things like down payments, security deposits and low credit limits.

Of course, your credit scores aren’t the only factor lenders look at. They also consider details like your employment status and income.

It’s also important to keep in mind that you might have dozens of different credit scores. And it may not be clear which score a particular lender looks at, or how high that score needs to be in order to grant you approval at the best terms.

But in general, your excellent credit scores will impress them.

Take a look at how your credit scores stack up against the scores of people from different generations.

You might be wondering how to achieve a specific credit score, but there’s no exact formula to reach that perfect number.

When it comes to building excellent credit overall, there are generally five factors that make up the scoring.

1. Payment history
2. Credit usage
3. Length of credit history
4. Credit mix
5. New credit

Putting them all together: People with excellent credit should be able to demonstrate a significant track record of on-time payments, with a variety of credit types, without racking up a lot of credit card debt.

So whether you’re content with your current score or looking to join the 800 club, here are a few tips to keep in mind as you take the next step in your credit journey.

1. Set up autopay. Even the most astute individuals can forget a due date every now and then, especially if you have more than one credit card to manage. (I sure have!) But even one late payment could send your credit scores spiraling downward. That’s why we recommend setting up autopay for all your bills.
2. Pay early. Even if you pay your credit card bill in full by the billing due date, the statement balance at the end of the billing cycle is what typically gets reported to the credit bureaus. This could make your credit utilization ratio fluctuate unexpectedly, which, in turn, could cause your scores to dip. To avoid this, we recommend manually paying your full account balance before your billing cycle closes, so that it gets reported as $0. If you haven’t been doing this, you might notice a significant boost to your credit scores when you start.
3. Don’t worry about adding a loan to your credit mix. You might have heard that lenders want to see you manage a mix of revolving credit and installment loans. While it’s nice to show you can balance all types of credit, it’s not worth applying for a loan you don’t need, and then paying interest on that loan, just to improve your credit mix. Let it happen naturally over time.
4. But don’t be afraid to apply for new credit cards in moderation. Initially, the hard inquiry may cause your scores to drop slightly. But in the long run, a new credit card could help increase your available credit, which could lower your credit utilization ratio. And the longer you keep it open, the more it could help increase your length of credit history. Speaking of that …
5. Don’t close old credit cards just because you aren’t using them anymore. Keeping your old credit cards open can help increase your length of credit history. Of course, there’s always an exception to the rule, and if your old card has an expensive annual fee, you’ll have to weigh the pros of keeping it open against the cons of how much it affects your score before deciding whether to close it.

See how your length of credit history compares among people from different generations.

Having excellent credit can mean that you’re more likely to get approved for car loans with the best rates, but it’s still not a guarantee.

That’s why it’s important to shop around and compare offers to find the best loan terms and rates available to you. Even with excellent credit, the rates you may be offered at dealerships could be higher than rates you might find at a bank, credit union or online lender.

You can figure out what these different rates and terms might mean for your monthly auto loan payment with our auto loan calculator.

And when you decide on an auto loan, consider getting preapproved. A preapproval letter from a lender can be helpful when you’re negotiating the price of your vehicle at a dealership, but be aware that it might involve a hard inquiry.

If you have excellent credit, it could also be worth crunching the numbers on refinancing an existing auto loan — you might be able to find a better rate if your credit has improved since you first financed the car.

Compare car loans on Credit Karma to explore your options.

Having excellent credit is one of the first steps to getting a great mortgage rate. But there are other factors at play here too, like the total cost of your home and your debt-to-income ratio.

Once you’ve got a sense of how much house you can afford and the type of mortgage you want, it’s time to shop around to understand the rates that might be available to you. Getting a mortgage preapproval can help you understand how much you can borrow and make your offer more competitive.

Compare current mortgage rates on Credit Karma to explore your options.

With excellent credit, you could be eligible for some of the best credit card offers.

This might include premium rewards cards that come with more-valuable rewards and top-notch perks like travel credits, free hotel nights, airport lounge access, complimentary upgrades and elite status. Keep in mind that these cards also tend to carry expensive annual fees and higher interest rates if you carry a balance. So you’ll have to weigh the benefits against the costs to see if it’s worth it for your wallet.

On the other hand, if you’re paying down credit card debt, you also might see offers for the best balance transfer cards that come with longer 0% intro APR periods and higher credit limits.

Explore credit cards for excellent credit on Credit Karma to see what’s available.

Practically speaking, your excellent credit should qualify you for the best credit cards, loans and mortgages.

You may be content with your high scores and see no financial incentive to reach even higher. But for some people, it may provide a sense of credit accomplishment to see hard work come to fruition, knowing you worked hard to get to a credit score in the 800s.

If reaching the pinnacle of credit is your goal, you might want to consider setting up autopay, paying off your credit card balance before the billing cycle closes, and keeping your old credit cards open, even if you don’t use them very often.