What is the Highest Credit Score

Updated: March 03, 2024 Author:

Quick Answer: On UK consumer credit reports, the highest credit scores possible are 1,000 from Equifax, 999 from Experian, and 710 from TransUnion. The highest credit score for a business is 100.

    What is the Highest Credit Score a Person Can Have

    Credit Reference Agencies (CRA’s) use different credit scoring models. There are three main CRA’s in the UK. Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Each has a different score range. The maximum credit score from Experian is 999. TransUnion credit scores go up to 710, and the highest credit score with Equifax is 1,000.  It used to be 700 up until 2021 when they changed to scoring out of 1,000. With each, the lowest credit score is zero indicating that they hold no information to verify your identity, which inevitably would mean that they couldn’t link a financial history to a person.

    What is the Highest Credit Score a Business Can Have

    The highest credit score a business can have is 100. The 4 Designated Credit Reference Agencies for corporate finance are Dun and Bradsheet, Creditsafe, Equifax, and Experian. Each is unified, using a score range of 0 to 100. These are much different from a consumer’s credit score as they convey more information to lenders and potential vendors than just the financial history of a business. Business credit scores go deeper to include industry information. If a company is performing poorly in comparison to competitors, it can lower its credit score.

    The Benefits of a High(er) Credit Score

    Lower interest rates

    The higher your credit score, the less risk a lender is taking on by extending credit to you. That’s rewarded with lower interest rates as a way to attract and retain customers.

    Lower car insurance premiums if you pay by Direct Debit

    Your credit score can affect car insurance rates. When you take out an insurance policy, the premiums quoted can be impacted by your credit profile. When you pay by Direct Debit, you are essentially being provided with the insurance policy on finance. That’s why it’s cheaper to pay for an annual policy upfront. When you pay monthly, interest is added. Some insurers will hike premiums based on an adverse credit history. The reasoning for this is that statistics show that those with bad credit have a higher likelihood of claiming on their insurance policy.

    Better credit card offers

    With a high credit score, you’re better able to play the credit game by taking advantage of bonus incentives such as cashback offers, travel rewards, sign-up bonuses, and 0% balance transfers.

    Higher credit limits to lower credit utilisation

    Part of your credit score is assessed by calculating how much of your available credit is being used. It’s referred to as credit utilisation. The more credit you have available that’s unused, the better your credit score. The higher your score, and with a history of repaying on time, revolving credit accounts tend to get credit limit increases. When that happens, your credit utilisation decreases provided you don’t use all of the credit increase. In essence, it’s easier to maintain a higher credit score once you have a six-year history (because that’s how long debts stay on your credit report). The cleaner your credit files, the better it demonstrates your financial responsibility.

    Lower cost of home ownership

    The lower your credit score, the higher the interest rates you’ll be quoted for all types of finance. Mortgages will be the most expensive home loan you obtain in your lifetime. The slightest rise in mortgage interest fees can have a significant impact on your monthly fees. That’s why some mortgage providers will offer two versions of the same mortgage. One with a product fee and another with a fee-free deal with a higher interest rate. It’s essentially rolling the mortgage fee into the mortgage with interest accruing over the term of the loan. Just a 0.1% differential can be costly.

    As an example, on a £200,000 mortgage, the product fee could be £999 with an interest rate of 4.89%. Roll the fee into the mortgage to avoid the upfront fee, the interest rate offered could be 4.99%. Just that 0.1% increase would add £200 extra to the annual percentage rate of charge (APRC). Multiply that over the term of a 25-year mortgage, it’s an extra £5,000. It doesn’t take that long to improve your credit score, and you don’t need the highest possible score to get better deals when remortgaging with an improved credit score.

    How to Reach the Maximum Credit Score Possible

    With so many factors used to determine your credit score, it’s nearly impossible to reach the maximum score. A better gauge is to work on improving your credit score between the ranges. The highest credit score range is the “excellent” category. To reach that category, the lowest of the highest credit score range is 961 from Experian, 628 from TransUnion, and 811 from Equifax.

    Is it Possible to Have a Credit Score Higher than 1,000?

    The only way to get a credit score higher than 1,000 is to combine scores. In 2020, several media outlets reported the highest credit score in the UK to be 1,258 out of 1,699. This was using two sets of data. One from Experian, and the other from Equifax. The highest credit score from Experian is 999. The highest credit score from Equifax in 2020 was 700. This is where the total credit score of 1,699 points came from. By combining the maximum credit score of Experian and Equifax. By that logic, the highest UK credit score now would be 2,709 as the maximum credit score for Experian is 999, Equifax is 1,000, and TransUnion goes up to 710. Add Crediva to the mix, and it goes even higher. It’s just not logical as that is not how credit scores work.

    Most mainstream lenders use credit reports from the big three credit reporting agencies. None could be considered the best credit score company because their scores are irrelevant. Lenders use the information on your credit files with their in-house credit scoring model. These differ by lender because they each have different approaches to the level of risk they’re willing to accept. The best practice for improving your chances of getting good credit deals is to focus on your efforts towards the excellent credit score range, rather than the maximum possible score – the main reason being that your credit score is an indicator of the major factors lenders use to determine the level of financial risk they’d be taking on by accepting you as a customer.