What's the perfect credit score?

To ensure the best deal on any loan, aim for 780-plus on your FICO score. But, that's not always possible. Here are the minimum scores recommended by experts for the best rates on loans.

1 of 3

Home loan

EXPERT SAYS: "There's been a change with mortgage lenders in the past year or so, and higher scores are now required for the best rates because default rates have been going up," says Barry Paperno, consumer operations manager at FICO. "It's entirely doable to have a score as good as 760, but your payment history would have to be really clean and your credit card balances would have to be well below 50%."

By Blake Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff reporter

NEXT: Auto loan

Last updated August 25 2010: 5:41 PM ET

More Galleries

6 great Memorial Day car deals

Here are some hot tips if you're going out car-shopping this weekend. More

10 multi-million-dollar mega-yachts

These folks definitely do not need a bigger boat. Peek inside some of the swankiest vessels on the high seas. More

Build your own eco-friendly house

Home is wherever you want it to be. This 150-square-foot home can be shipped almost anywhere and then assembled like Ikea furniture in about four days. More

Special Offer

About CNNMoney
Content
Magazines
Site Tools
Stay Connected
- My Account
- Mobile Site & Apps
- Facebook
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- YouTube
- RSS Feeds
- Newsletters
- Tumblr

Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2012 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones Indexes^SM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones Indexes^SM © 2012 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2012. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.