Perhaps you are, right now, in the midst of constructing a good plan to try and improve your score, and become an “excellent credit risk”. If not, think about it! Your credit score can be costing you more than you can afford because those with an excellent credit score are rewarded handsomely. There are many perks to having your financial house in good order.

Your credit rating works hard for you! It’s the official blueprint of your financial history. When you maintain an excellent credit rating you are entitled to all kinds of perks and bonuses when it comes to loans, insurance - and especially credit cards of all kinds.

According to FairIssac, the most widely-used credit rating service in the U.S. (you may of heard of its proprietary “FICO” score), lenders seek to learn about consumers’ likelihood of defaulting on a loan – the “risk rate”. FairIssac groups consumers into “bands” of those borrowers who reach 90 days past due or worse (such as bankruptcy or account charge-off) on any credit account over a two-year period. For those with FICO scores between 750 and 799, FairIssac has determined that only 2% of these Excellent Credit risks will reach this 90 days past-due mark over a two-year period. Therefore, a lender can feel very confident that a consumer with this score will almost certainly meet all of his obligations. By comparison, according to FairIssac, just over half of the borrowers whose scores fall in the 550-599 range will go 90 days past due on loans during the same two year period – and are therefore a bleak prospect for a lender.

This doesn’t mean that those with poor credit scores (browse Credit Cards for Poor Credit) don’t get loans – but it does mean that they will pay dearly in terms of a higher interest rates – in the above example, four to five percentage points higher, often resulting in thousands of dollars more in interest expenses.

While your credit score has typically been used by lenders seeking information about your credit-worthiness, a new group is starting to use FICO scores – employers, when you apply for a new job.

The good news for job seekers is that credit inquiries – which can negatively impact your score when multiple inquiries are received over a short timeframe – are not reported to credit bureaus when the inquiry is generated by a potential employer. The bad news is that your reason for seeking a new job, and going though an application process, may be in an effort to improve your earnings and be in a better position to pay down debt – and therefore improve a tarnished credit score.

Make sure that when you apply for a job, you know if the employer will pull your credit reports (according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, employers must disclose this), and that your score matches with the employers requirements – or else, wait a while to apply, and do what you can to shore up your score.

Insurance plans of many different kinds are considered essential – and for drivers, a requirement - to a large number of consumers. Insurers take your credit score into account as one of the deciding factors in determining your premiums through what's known as an insurance score. Insurance brokers pay particular attention to a person’s credit profile to ascertain “loss behavior” for insurance.

Those with excellent credit scores are offered preferred rates. Consumers with an excellent credit score don’t show significant loss behavior, requiring insurers to pay out claims on losses, compared to those with lower credit scores. Consumers with a credit score 650 or higher may receive discounts ranging from 2% - 15% to normal rates - and sometimes even better than that.

Rev up your auto-loan rate

Are you in the market for a new car? Your credit score will determine what kind of interest rates you will enjoy on an auto loan.

• Consumers needing a $20,000, 48-month auto loan, with a score between 720 and 850 will qualify for a 6.282% rate and pay $472 per month. That is $2,670 in interest over a four-year loan. However…
• Consumers with a score between 660 and 689 will qualify for an 8.844% rate and pay $496 per month and $3,819 in interest.

Once again, the consumer with an excellent credit score holds the advantage here.

While we offer all kinds of help at Credit Card Applications, this is one area where you, and your Excellent Credit score, have done most of the work. However, we want to be sure that this hard work pays off for you, by helping you to find a credit card that works hard for you.Our excellent credit category features credit cards with no annual fees. One of our top cards for consumers is the Capital One® No Hassle Cash(SM) Rewards. Or perhaps you earned your Excellent Credit rating while running your own business – if so, we can recommend the Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express. Finally – head over here to sing up for our newsletter – we’ll send you updated card offers that are the perfect match for your and your Excellent Credit score.