In case you’ve never had occasion to check your credit score, here’s what you need to know:
   
    What is a credit score?
Your credit score reflects your credit worthiness and is derived from data gathered by the three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. These three bureaus track your lenders, your balances, your credit limits, your payment history, and your applications for new credit.
    
    Why is a score key?
Lenders, insurers, landlords, prospective employers, and even utility companies frequently use your credit score to decide whether they want to do business with you. If they do, they also use your score to determine what interest rates, prices, and security deposits to charge you.
   
    Why Credit Scores Matter
    An example of national average mortgage rates and monthly payments on a $300,000, 30-year fixed loan based on different credit-score ranges:
       
       
FICO          APR        MONTHLY
SCORE                     PAYMENT
 
760-850    5.860%    $1,772
700-759    6.082%    $1,814
660-699    6.366%    $1,870
620-659    7.176%    $2,031
580-619    8.820%    $2,375
500-579    9.679%    $2,562

    Who sets the score?

    Fair Isaac, a Minneapolis company, created the FICO score, while several other companies have developed similar formulas or models that distill credit information into a score.

    What’s a good score?

    Fair Isaac’s FICO scores range from 300 to 850 (the higher the better).