How Credit Impacts Your Life

Your FICO score plays a big role in your life, right now and far into the future, and whether your credit report shows a high score, mid level score, or low FICO score, you are bound in many ways to it.

The higher your credit score, the better off you will be in the world of finance, business, job hunting, and lifestyle. How your FICO score affects you depends on where your credit lands you on the scale ranging between the numbers of 300 to 850. Any number above 620 is considered good. Below 620 in considered subprime, or a fair to poor credit rating, depending how low it is. There are actually no advantages to having a low credit score and every advantage to a having a high FICO score.

So why is this important? Well, credit reports yield credit scores, a powerful little three-digit number ranging anywhere between 300 to 850. A score less than 620 is considered subprime and will have you paying 10.99 percent interest on a car loan when your friend with a 620 or higher score pays 6 percent, or you may pay 25 percent on a credit card when your friend's card charges 12 percent.

Credit scores can also affect your rates for mortgages and home, auto, and life insurance. And increasingly, bosses are conducting credit checks when they make hiring decisions. As you can see, your credit score is a very important part of your life.

Credit scores are a great scam for the credit card industry. You need those credit cards to get a mortgage or an auto loan down the road. But you don't have to run up any balances! The most cautious thing to do is to use your credit cards to make a regular payment, like a cell phone bill, and then set up automatic bill paying online each month.

There are lots of businesses that will offer to repair your credit, but as the Federal Trade Commission wants you to know, it is entirely up to you to keep your credit in good standing.

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