How Good is a 750 Credit Score?

According to statistical data from the Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) and the United States Federal Reserve approximately 27% of consumers have scores in the 750-800 range. Importantly, this means that a score of 750 is a higher score than 60% of the population. It is also a decent amount above a 711 credit score, which is the average credit score in the country according to credit bureau Experian. Another very important measure to assess how good a 750 credit score is, is to look at what exactly a score in this range means from a lender’s perspective.

The above chart shows the approximate default rate on new loans two years after origination based on credit score (source is FICO). Lenders use credit scores as a measure of the likelihood that a borrower is going to repay back credit that gets extended to them i.e. it is a measure of risk.

Lenders are going to be weary of lending money to you if they believe you have a higher probability of not paying them back. A 750 credit score falls into the lowest category of “risk” because statistically speaking, borrowers with scores this high will not default 99% of the time. This is – practically speaking – as high of a percentage as you’re going to get. Your score is better than 60% of the U.S. population and is in a category that represents the lowest default risk.

What a Credit Score of 750 Means For Your Options

Assuming the rest of your consumer profile is in order – mostly your employment status, overall indebtedness and income – you should have few issues getting approved for most extensions of credit with a score at this level. Let’s go through the various examples in detail:

Is a 750 credit score good enough to buy a house?

Yes – this score is a good enough score to get approval for a mortgage with a competitive mortgage rate. This assumes that the remainder of your mortgage application is in order.

Using a real world example¹, the above shows the composition of the mortgage portfolios of two of the largest national banks in the United States: Bank of America and Wells Fargo. These banks not only right at the top the list of banks operating in the U.S. but are also among the largest mortgage lenders. Keep in mind that these banks have stricter underwriting standards than other banks and non-bank mortgage lenders so you should expect their credit scores to be higher than average. For Bank of America, 80% of the mortgage loans the bank has issued and kept on its books were to consumers with a 740 credit score or higher.

For Wells Fargo 94% of the mortgage loans the bank has issued were to consumers with a credit score of 720 or better. The important point is that a 750 credit score is within the range of credit scores of customers that have been issued mortgages from both of these banks. In fact many lenders use a 660 credit score as the cutoff when discussing their loan portfolios, and a credit score of 750 is almost 100 points above this. While the numbers aren’t huge, these banks have also issued mortgage loans to consumers with credit scores lower than 750. And again, we consider these banks are being on the stricter end of the underwriting spectrum. A score at this level is sufficient to get approved for a mortgage.

Can You Get a Credit Card with a 750 credit score?

Yes you should be able to get approved for many types of credit cards with a 750 credit score. This includes not just the standard credit cards on the market but also branded credit cards offered by banks.

Using data based on bank disclosures we’ve summarized the credit card portfolios of two major banks: Citibank and Wells Fargo. These are branded credit cards meaning they are cards offered by the bank and not white labeled. For Citibank, 38% of its outstanding credit card loans are from customers with a credit score between 680 and 760 while 13% are customers with scores below 680. A credit score of 750 is at the top end of the 680 to 760 range and likely represents the average Citibank branded credit card customer.

Similarly, for Wells Fargo, 61% of their credit card customers had a credit score between 680 and 760. Your credit score would represent an above average credit card customer of Wells Fargo. Consumers with a credit score in this range will have their choice of credit cards assuming that the remainder of their application does not have issues. For example, some credit card issuers such as American Express, will require information about your income before approving or denying your application. 

Can You Get an Auto Loan with a 750 credit score?

Yes – not only can you get approved for an auto loan or lease with this credit score, but the rates you receive will be relatively favorable. A score in this range would be categorized by many auto lenders as “super prime” which is the highest category available.

You shouldn’t have any issues getting approved for an auto loan with this credit score as by definition, you are in the most attractive category of borrowers from a risk standpoint. Further, in addition to having many options to choose from in terms of lenders, your score should also garner relatively attractive and competitive auto loan rates.

As shown above, consumers with super prime credit scores will pay an annual percentage rate that is 1% less than consumers with prime credit scores and 10% less than consumers in the lowest credit score band. For a $15,000 auto loan, the savings compared to a prime customer would be $150 each year.

Can You Get a Personal Loan with a 750 credit score?

You likely will have no issues getting a personal loan with this score. You will have several options to choose from in terms of lenders and also relatively attractive rates. Many of the personal loan providers aim to serve consumers with lower credit scores who don’t have access to traditional sources of credit including credit cards and lines of credit provided by banks. These non-traditional lenders of personal loans also have very wide ranges of interest rates that they charge consumers. These are some examples:

• Upgrade – offers personal loans with annual interest rates of 6.55% to 35.97%
• SoFi – offers personal loans with annual interest rates of 6.99% to 22.23%
• Lending Club – offers personal loans with annual interest rates of 6.34% to 35.89%

The good news is that should you want to explore these non-traditional sources of personal loans the odds are in your favor that you will get approved and with rates that are nearer to the low end of their very wide advertised annual interest rates.

How Do I Get my Credit Score from 750 to 800?

• Limit Opening New Accounts and Closing Accounts – one of the inputs the credit reporting agencies use in calculating your credit score is the length of your credit history. Therefore, each time you open a new account or close an existing account, the length of your credit history declines. The impact can be more significant if you open a large number of new accounts or close existing accounts in a short period of time. This doesn’t mean that you should never open or close new accounts. You should just be judicious about when you’re opening an account and ideally only do so if you plan to maintain the account for a number of years. Opening new accounts to take advantage of bonuses and then closing the accounts in a year or two will have a negative impact on your credit score.
• Keep Your Credit Card Utilization Low – another input the credit bureaus use in calculating your credit score is to look at the total amounts owed on revolving credit, such as credit cards, relative to the allowable limits on the credit cards. Keeping credit cards fully maxed out is not only financially imprudent but it has a negative impact on your overall credit score. The odds are that you have maintained a reasonably low level of credit card utilization, otherwise you wouldn’t have a 750 credit score. Experian estimated that consumers with credit scores between 740 and 799 had average credit utilization ratios of 12%. This should be a practice that is maintained.
• Monitor Your Credit Reports Closely – finally, it is a good idea to pay close attention to your credit scores. Checking your credit reports once a year should be the minimum frequency as while the information might not change every day, over the course of a year a lot can change. Monitoring your credit reports monthly (what we would recommend) allows you to keep track of the progress you’re making in improving your credit scores and enables you to be proactive in the event that an issue arises. It is also a good way of protecting yourself against identity theft. There are a host of free credit monitoring tools including Credit Karma and Credit Wise.

¹ The information presented is based on company disclosures as of 12/31/21. Percentages do not add up to 100% due to consumers that do not have credit scores