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By now, most consumers with even a minimal history of credit are aware that something known as a credit score has a tremendous amount of influence on his or her financial lives. The score, a distillation of one's credit history reduced to a three-digit number between 350 and 850, represents to the world the overall credit worthiness of the individual that it represents.

A score towards the lower end of the scale means that you are a poor risk for a credit card or a loan, while a score at the upper end means that you can get the best rates on just about any type of lending. Despite what you may think, it is possible to obtain a score in the 800 range. All it takes is time and some discipline.

Here are some tips that will help you achieve a top credit score:

# Don't have too many credit cards. It's possible to have too few, and it's possible to have too many. Too few cards means not enough credit, and too many means that you can potentially get into too much debt. Four or so is probably just about right.

# No late payments for the last seven years. Creditors understandably don't like late payments, and they stick around on your credit report for a long time. Pay your bills on time, even if you are just making the minimum payment.

# Don't apply for too much credit. A couple of inquiries a year is acceptable, but too many applications for credit in a short period of time can put a dent in your credit score as they make you look too eager or even desperate.

# Make sure that your outstanding balances on your revolving credit accounts do not exceed 30-35% of your available credit. It's nice to have a lot of credit, but it doesn't look good if you actually use a lot of it. Keep your balances low. It demonstrates that you are capable of paying your bills.

# Have a long credit history of twenty to thirty years. Sorry, but it's hard to accelerate this part of the process. Part of what it takes to achieve a top credit score is the ability to maintain credit over a long period of time. A high score indicates a high level of trust and that can be earned only through long experience.

This may seem like a lot of things to do, but none of them are actually very difficult. All it takes to achieve a high credit score is to pay your bills on time, not apply for more credit than you need, not use your cards too often and do it for a long time. It may seem odd, but the more you act like you don't need credit, the more you will have available to you.