How can someone have an "A" on their credit score, Impossible.?

Question

A friend of mine walked into the Bank and was told that they could not deny him a loan because his score is 806. A friend that works and pulls credit all the time said the highest score he has ever seen was 820. The bank guy said he's only seen 4 people above 800 and my friend was one of them, soooo
I was looking on the back of my credit report, and they said 800-900 is a "B", 900-1000 is an "A", and 700-800 is a "C". My friend has NEVER been late and paid off everything on time for 25 years.
Do you know anyone that has an "A", or how it's done?
Seems like the credit bureau doesn't use the Bell curve when it comes to credit.

Answer 1

I don't know what this system is, but it certainly isn't FICO. There are some people who are "A" credit, but a perfect credit score is next to impossible because of all of the factors involved. Any FICO over 720 is generally considered to be just as good as 850 when it comes to terms of a loan. The new credit score algorithm is VantageScore (which goes up to 990), but many lenders still use FICO.

FICO Credit Score .. Percent with Score
300-499: 1%
500-549: 5%
550-599: 7%
600-649: 11%
650-699: 16%
700-749: 20%
750-799: 29%
800-850: 11%

Many people end up with a late bill here or there or max out their cards... but the further back these events, the less they negatively impact your FICO score.

Answer 2

If this is a report with the score based on a FICO Score than that is impossible. FICO scores range from 350-850.

The terms A, B, C are generally lender specific. Some lenders might consider an A anything above a 800 FICO, but others might consider an A anything above 750. In general A's will get the best rate, then B's, once you get lower you get into what they call Sub-Prime lending and interest and fees skyrocket.

To have the best credit you need to use it responsibly. That is never come close to your maximum credit(no more than 30% useage is best), pay your bills on time every time, and don't apply for credit every chance you get.
Related terms you might hear are things like Tier 1, Tier 2 this is the same concept but different words.

Answer 3

I've heard many people who have told me that they have high scores (in the high 700s) who's scores for some reason never seem to go up. I know a lot about credit, however I am still somewhat unclear about how the formulas really work in terms of computing a score. And no, lol there is no bell curve when it comes to credit, would be nice though.

Answer 4

I don't understand that system--is it based in the US? FICO scores don't go up to 1000. I think 850 is as high as they go. You can pay all your bills on time and have excellent credit, but if you've never taken out a loan and paid it back, your score probably won't be in the highest bracket. The really high ones are the ones who have proven they can handle loans and debts at higher amounts responsibly. It also depends on your credit limits and how long you've had credit.

Answer 5

The bank is probably using Vantage or Scorex (or similar). None of which is a true FICO score and rarely used by most lenders/creditors.

As for the lender rarely seeing anyone with that score, the same could be said with an 800+ FICO score.

Answer 6

I've heard that the credit bureaus are in the process of changing the way they report scores from the numbers to a letter grade. This (giving both nubmer and letter scores) could be the interim process until the conversion is complete. Hope this helps.

Answer 7

FICO credit scores from the big 3 range between 300 and 850. An individual finance company may use some other scoring range to determine credit limit, etc.

I've heard people talk about A level, B level, etc. but that's relating back to FICO scores.

I'd suggest that you re-read the back of your credit score.

Answer 8

many credit companies look at client's past records. The way they do things is to first look at the person's pass purchases with credit cards. Everytime you make a big purchase and pay on time you get certain amount of points.

The more credit card you have and the more stuff you buy and pay on time, the more credit you have. So to build up your credit, even if you don't buy stuff you can get extra credit score