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

12 greenest cars of 2012

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy has released its list of the most environmentally friendly cars of 2012, but there's one glaring omission. More

Top 10 counterfeit goods

Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 25,000 shipments of counterfeit goods that were making their way into the country. The total value of that loot: $178.9 million. Here are the top 10 fakes and how to spot them: More

Cars of the future: They're going to be tiny and weird

Several automakers are moving toward small, shared electric cars that will radically change the way people drive in big cities. 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.