About six months of on-time payments should help you get a decent credit score. A great score takes longer.
And if you started with a poor score and made drastic improvements, an increase of 110 points within 6 months is totally possibly. Most importantly, remember to use your credit wisely. Avoid debt whenever possible, pay your bills on time, and pay off your credit cards every month.
It will take about six months of credit activity to establish enough history for a FICO credit score, which is used in 90% of lending decisions. 1 FICO credit scores range from 300 to 850, and a score of over 700 is considered a good credit score. Scores over 800 are considered excellent.
It usually takes about three months to bounce back after a credit card has been maxed out or you close an unused credit card account. If you make a single mortgage payment 30 to 90 days late, your score can start to recover after about 9 months.
If you have been using credit for only six months or a year, it's unrealistic to expect a score in the high 700s. Still, it is possible to establish excellent credit — a score of 800 or higher, for example — in your 20s.
Average Recovery Time
The good news is that when your score is low, each positive change you make is likely to have a significant impact. For instance, going from a poor credit score of around 500 to a fair credit score (in the 580-669 range) takes around 12 to 18 months of responsible credit use.
Depending on where you're starting from, It can take several years or more to build an 800 credit score. You need to have a few years of only positive payment history and a good mix of credit accounts showing you have experience managing different types of credit cards and loans.
For most people, increasing a credit score by 100 points in a month isn't going to happen. But if you pay your bills on time, eliminate your consumer debt, don't run large balances on your cards and maintain a mix of both consumer and secured borrowing, an increase in your credit could happen within months.
It may take anywhere from six months to a few years to raise your score by 200 points. As long as you stick to your credit rebuilding plan and stay patient, you'll be able to raise your credit score before you know it.
You can increase your score in as little as three months by doing things like paying down debt, disputing errors on your credit report, and avoiding your credit card, you'll increase your credit score before you know it.
Your FICO® Score falls within a range, from 740 to 799, that may be considered Very Good. A 750 FICO® Score is above the average credit score. Borrowers with scores in the Very Good range typically qualify for lenders' better interest rates and product offers.
To get a 750 credit score, you need to pay all bills on time, have an open credit card account that's in good standing, and maintain low credit utilization for months or years, depending on the starting point. The key to reaching a 750 credit score is adding lots of positive information to your credit reports.
The amount of time it takes to go from a 700 to 800 credit score could take as little as a few months to several years. While your financial habits and credit history will play a role in how long it takes, there are some factors that have specific timelines.
A credit score of 900 is either not possible or not very relevant. The number you should really focus on is 800. On the standard 300-850 range used by FICO and VantageScore, a credit score of 800+ is considered “perfect.” That's because higher scores won't really save you any money.
Seven years is deemed a reasonable amount of time to establish a good credit history. After seven years, most negative items will fall off your credit report.
Age well for best results
While six months is the minimum age before you're fully scorable, that's the bottom of the range -- way at the bottom. Most lenders (and scoring models) consider anything less than two years of credit history to be little more than a decent start.