How can I get a perfect credit score?

If you don't need credit, who cares about the score? You can open a bunch of new accounts, then don't use them. Then you'll fix number 1. But you'll aggrivate #4. 695 is okay. It's not keeping you from anything you want to do and you're WAY more financially stabile than most Americans. You can go to My Fico for more info on credit scores, but it is kind of a racket.

You will not get a perfect credit score. That goal is basically unachievable, but 730-740 is very achievable with a bit of finagling. http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/ http://www.creditboards.com/ are great for getting more information about this; there are people (like me) that pursue higher scores for their own curiosity. You actually have to carry a balance on credit cards to establish a credit history. That is absolutely not true and is http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=c66f359e-70a7-4255-b56d-2cbe37d907e1. I've never carried a balance on my credit cards and have a quite good credit score. To fix #1, have much more credit than you use. What matters is your utilization - using $1,000/month of $20,000 credit looks better than using $1,000/month of $1,500 credit. You can fix #2 by maintaining a mortgage or car loan, but I doubt that's worth your effort. I have never had a mortgage/car loan. Numbers #3 and #4 are fixed by time - hard credit inquiries drop off your score in two years. That said, keep in mind that the credit reports I've seen always report a three or four reasons for your credit score even if there is really only one "big" reason. "Too many inquiries" always shows up on my credit report even if I have zero inquiries! If you don't need credit, who cares about the score? The chance that the OP will never need credit again is very low. If, for instance, the OP ever needs a mortgage again, a 700-ish credit score could have an APR 0.5% or so higher than a 740-ish credit score. Over the course of a mortgage, that can add up to significant money.

That line about having to carry a balance to establish credit history is false and an urban legend at this point. Also, 695 is totally fine- it won't stop you from getting any more credit. If you look at creditkarma (kind of a scummy site, but I think you can get the information without having to sign up for an account). Basically it boils down to your points: #1) You want to aim for about 10-20% utilization on your credit cards. Higher, and you look like a high-risk user. #2) If you've paid off your mortgage and car loans, you don't have any recent installments other than your credit card, so they don't "know" you're a reliable customer #3) You're in your early 30s, so your average account age probably isn't that high. Plus, if you've closed out older accounts, your account age goes down. This is one reason people don't recommend closing out accounts as long as you're not tempted to use them and make sure that they're not being fraudulently used. #4) You should investigate this. You should be able to get a list of all the hard credit inquiries made on your account through annualcreditreport.com. It honestly may just be that this credit card application counts as one, which is enough for them to ding you like 5 points. But that's why it's #4 on the list- it's low impact. If you do see suspicious inquiries, then you will need to find out what happened.

If you don't need credit, who cares about the score? Unfortunately, credit scores are taking on more and more importance. I found that my SO and I could not rent an apartment together when we moved to my most recent town without having credit reports run on both of us with every application. Employers are also now pulling credit scores, especially for jobs involving money handling or other access to valuables. It's disgusting, but the system as it is has you over a barrel, and a credit score does mean something to certain important audiences, even if you don't want to buy consumer goods. You might also be interested inhttp://metatalk.metafilter.com/21012/Credit-where-credit-is-due

I got a score in the low 800s by having a credit card with a very low limit ($200) which charged me about $10/mo for the privilege of having it and something like 29% interest. The first year I had it, I used it occasionally for stuff like starbucks and quickly decided to never ever use it. After about 18 months of this my score went from mid 600s to low 800s. Now I have a regular card with a fairly high limit, and on average I spend about 50% of that limit per month. I always pay the bill in full (on time and with a single payment) as I don't like the idea of carrying a balance, yet my score is now about 70 points lower. in conclusion credit scores are fucking bullshit and unless you plan to get a mortgage some time in the next 2-3 years, don't worry too much about it.

I agree that if you're not looking to get a mortgage or finance something in the near future, your credit score is less important. (Though, apparently some insurance companies or even employers now look at credit scores, so they may affect you even if you're not looking for credit.) It sounds ultimately like you have a "thin file" - a paid off mortgage loan, a paid off car loan, an existing credit card and now a new credit card. I use creditkarma (mentioned by thewumpusisdead, above) and I believe it has said that people with "A" credit scores (I think they define that as 750+) have 22 or more credit accounts (mix of revolving and installment). The fewer accounts you have, the greater impact any one factor will have on your score. [If you want to use creditkarma, note that it won't count as a "hard hit" on your credit, but that the score it gives you is not a FICO score and, in my experience, it tends to be a bit higher than your FICO score, but there is a correlation between the scoring.] For #1, one of the factors that is used in the credit score is the proportion of credit you're using to available credit. So, if you're charging $6000 a month and your limit is $10,000, you're using 60% even if you pay it in full every month. [Note, I've never carried a balance and have a very high credit score. It is a long-standing myth that you need to carry a balance to improve your score - see http://money.msn.com/debt-management/credit-score-myths-that-need-to-die] This could be solved by (i) charging less or, if you prefer to charge (rewards points, etc.), (ii) getting another card and splitting your purchases (i.e., use 30% of each card's credit each month. Alternately, you could ask your current card(s) to increase your limit. As a data point I have 4 cards, and use less than 10% of my credit on each every month. I agree with the comments above, in part, that FICO is a bit of a racket because your paid off mortgage and car may not help much because they are far in the past (#2). Also, even if they are on your report, having "only" two (or so) installation loans is somewhat low. For example, due to my student loans (two loans a year for two degrees, some of which were consolidated into new loans) I have something like 20 installment loans (all of which have been paid on time) over the last 10 years. Many of them are paid off, but two are still on my report, and they show a length of reliable payment history. For #3, one of the factors for credit score is also the average age of accounts (which is why the advice is to try to keep your old accounts open). Thus, opening a new credit card to get more available credit is a double-edged sword - it helps with point #1 but hurts the average age. There is little you can do about this except keep your cards open. I think #4 may be simply the new card - again, you have a thin credit file so one hard inquiry is an anomaly. I've looked at my credit score before/after a hard inquiry and the difference is usually about 5 points, and it often rebounds in a few months because of the increased available credit. Of course, I regularly check my credit report (for free at annualcreditreport.com) for any irregularities.

When is the last time you pulled your full report? Please do that ASAP. Reading this, it seems very possible that your identity has been stolen. #1 shows up when you're carrying a lot of balances - like if you have a card for $5,000, a card for $10,000, and a card for $2,000, and you're carrying a $4,000, $9,000, and $1,500 balance on each, respectively. Get a report from all three of the major services (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax) and go through each with a fine-toothed comb. If you see any accounts that don't belong to you, addresses you've never lived at, etc, http://www.today.com/id/22567255/ns/today-money/t/how-clear-mistakes-your-credit-report/. I don't mean to be alarmist, but you're better safe than sorry.

Ah, crud, on re-read I see you have recently pulled your full report. (And also that I used the word "is" when I should have used the word "was"!) Still, if you pulled the report more than 6 months ago, I'd do it again, and if you only got one from a single agency, pull the others as well.

What exact steps should I follow to get a perfect credit score? I don't think you can. Credit scores don't work that way, as there's a fairly significant degree of fudge factor involved in the assignation of any particular score. Note that I said "assignation" not "computation," because it's not a matter of plugging in your numbers into an algorithm. The CRAs each have proprietary methods for coming up with their scores, and they're based at least in part on subjective underwriting factors.