Smart Money Podcast: How Can My Credit Score Save Me Money?

Sean Pyles
By Sean Pyles 
Published
Edited by Kathy Hinson

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money.

Welcome to NerdWallet’s Smart Money podcast, where we answer your real-world money questions.

This week’s question is from James in Oakland. He says, “Hey, Nerds, I know it’s important to have good credit, and I finally got my credit score into the mid-700s. What happens next?” We talked with Liz Weston, a NerdWallet columnist and certified financial planner, to help James out.

Know where every dollar goes
Find ways to spend more on the things you love, and less on the things you don’t.

Our tips

  • Know what an excellent credit score is. Depending on the scoring model, any score above 720 to 760 is excellent.

  • An excellent credit score means big savings. As Liz points out in her book “Your Credit Score,” an excellent credit score can lead to lifetime savings of $250,000 on things like lower interest rates and more affordable cell phone promotions compared to someone with a lower credit score.

  • Work to maintain your score. Once you get a high score, you can keep it up by making all payments on time and using less than 30% of your credit limits. Protect your score by checking your credit regularly.

More about your credit score on NerdWallet

Have a money question? Text or call us at 901-730-6373. Or you can email us at [email protected]. To hear previous episodes, return to the podcast homepage.