Credit Score Scale

There’s always a lot of information floating around about credit reports and the credit score scale and why it’s important to have a good rating. But what does all of that information actually mean to you in your everyday life? Actually, a lot. It doesn’t seem like it is really impacting your everyday, but it does impact your everyday finances in a way that ends up impacting your quality of life in general. It’s a very serious life matter that seems less serious because it gets talked about in a light way so much of the time.

So, here’s the real deal. When you have a high credit score you have a very easy time getting approval on things like credit cards, loans, insurance, apartments, and all sorts of other things where they look at your credit score. They’re even checking when you go to apply at some jobs these days. And then on top of that, you also get offered better interest rates. When you have a bad credit score you get charged all sorts of fees, you get asked for deposits, and you get offered high interest rates—when companies are willing to even do business with you at all. Again, this doesn’t just come up when you go to apply for a car loan—it comes up with everything. When you go to get car insurance, house insurance, or when you go to apply for jobs your credit score comes into play.

You can get a copy of your credit report free online once a year, and you can definitely check your credit score fairly easily. But what does all that information in front of you mean if you don’t know what the credit score scale is, exactly? Most people see a number like six hundred and fifty and think that’s on a scale of one to a thousand. This is not the case at all. In fact, the range goes from three hundred and fifty to eight hundred and fifty, but it’s very rare for people to have a rating anywhere close to that. Most people fall between about six hundred and seven hundred and fifty. If you want to have a high credit score, which I assure you is the goal here, you want to have a rating over seven hundred. It will save you money, it will save you time getting turned down for things, and it will generally make your everyday life easier.