2. Your Credit Score & How It Can Affect You

Your credit score is based on key types of information in your credit report, which come together and generate a composite credit score. The key thing to remember — the higher the score, the better. There are several types of credit scores, but lenders often use the FICO score.

The score ranges from 300 to 850 and can vary slightly based on which credit agency issues the score.

Your FICO score generally measures five key criteria:

• Length of credit history
• Types of credit lines
• Payment history on those credit lines
• Amounts owed on those credit lines
• New credit lines — how many and over what period of time