Six simple ways to build an 800 credit score is a list everyone can implement. Best of all, it costs nothing — no need to hire a credit repair agency.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB), and many state regulators advise American consumers not to seek the help of credit repair agencies.  

About six months ago, CFPB filed a lawsuit against CreditRepair.com and Lexington Law, two of the country’s biggest credit repair agencies, alleging that they tricked and cheated their consumers.  

Most credit repair agencies are shady, and the legitimate ones are not going to stay in business long enough for you to benefit from their services.  Credit repair is more about disputing erroneous tradelines.  It’s part financial responsibly and part of know-how.  The process can long, tedious, and exhausted.  If you shift your responsibility to a credit repair agency, you might end up with thousands of dollars in debt and the same credit profile.  Below are the 6 simple ways to build an 800 credit score:

On-time Payments

On-time payments have the highest impact on your credit score.  Paying a credit repair agency to remove charge offs, tax liens, and bankruptcy from your credit report will not do much if you are consistently making your payments late.

Credit rating agencies such as Transunion, Equifax, and Experian have two ways they calculate your on-time payments— the number of accounts for which you had never missed a payment or the number of overall payments you have made on time, across all your accounts.

Regardless of the credit rating agency’s methodology, you need to keep the percentage of your on-time payments at 100 percent.  Because on-time payments have such a significant impact on your credit score, you can’t even afford to keep its percentage less than 100 percent.

You should set autopay, so you never miss a payment, or set bill reminders.  Many credit companies will send at least three reminder texts or emails before the due date.

Here’s an on-time payments snapshot of someone with a nearly 800 credit score:

“Over the past 4 years, you’ve made 200 payments on 10 different accounts. Two of those payments were late, each of them on a different account. This means that you have made 198 payments on time and have never missed a payment on 8 of your accounts.  198 on-time payments / 200 total payments = 99% on-time payment percentage.  62% of people are in this range, and the status of your on-time payments is excellent.”

Oldest Credit Line (age of your oldest account)

The age of your oldest credit account shows lenders how much experience you have handling credit.

If you are 21 or younger and reading this, there is not much you can do.  In the good old’ days, you could “piggyback,” which is having an older user added you as an authorized user on their credit card (s).  You would inherit that user’s old account history.

Credit repair companies violated piggybacking, so the credit rating agencies don’t give it much weight anymore.

For older users, don’t EVER close old accounts.  That store credit card that you got when you were in college is good for your credit score.  Use it once in a while and pay the balance in full.

Here’s an oldest credit line snapshot  of someone with a nearly 800 credit score:

“Your oldest account is 18-years old.  It has a moderate impact on your credit score. Your account history status is good.”

Credit Usage

Credit Usage has a high impact on your credit score.  If you use too much of your available credit, lenders could see that as a sign that you may be overextended.  Most professionals agree that you should not use more than 30 percent of your total available. 

Here’s a credit usage snapshot  of someone with a nearly 800 credit score:

“You used 21% of your total available credit. Your credit usage status is good.”

Inquiries

Lenders could see too many inquiries within a short period as applying for multiple new credit lines, which is an indicator that you could be financially overextended.  Even if your credit utilization ratio is only 21 percent, you could hurt your credit score by having too many inquiries.

You should apply for credit only when you need it.  When you are shopping for a new car or house, all inquiries that appear on your credit file within a 14-day window count as a single inquiry.  So, feel free to shop for a better rate when you are buying a home.

Here’s a snapshot of someone with a nearly 800 credit score:

“You have 3 inquiries in the past two years.  Your inquiries status is good.”

New Accounts

Too many inquiries may result in too many accounts.  Lenders could see too many accounts within a short period as applying for multiple new credit lines, which is an indicator that you could be financially overextended.

Only apply for credit when you need it.  Once you open an account, make sure you keep the usage under 30 percent.

Here’s a snapshot of someone with a nearly 800 credit score:

“ You have 3 accounts in the past two years.  Your new accounts status is good.”

Total Available Credit

If you don’t have enough available credit, a lender might see this as a sign that you are stretched too thin financially and might not be able to pay them back.  Even if you get approved, your financing terms might be high.

You need to keep your credit usage under 30 percent.  Don’t rack up charges on one credit card and keep and keep other cards way under that 30 percent threshold.  Try to keep all your credit cards under that utility ratio.  

Here’s a snapshot of someone with a nearly 800 credit score:

“You have $67,405 total available credit. Your total available credit status is “Excellent.”

Here’s the formula to an 800 Credit Score

Excellent on-time payments + good account history + good credit used +good inquiries +good new accounts + excellent total available credit=excellent credit score or 795. You can act on any of the six simple ways to build an 800-credit score alone.  You don’t need to pay thousands of dollars to shady credit repair agencies to do what you can do yourself. Good Luck!