Imagine yourself applying for a car loan, you have the money and you have the right job to pay the loan back before the due date. However, even if you have the right job and the money for it, you still haven't been approved for the loan. This will make you wonder why. In the United States, having money and having a high salary isn't everything. You have to consider one important thing that will have significant impact in your daily life. This important thing is used by creditors, such as banks and credit card companies to determine if you will likely pay back what you borrowed from them. This important thing is called the credit score or your credit rating. If you were delinquent in paying your bills or loans in the past, you should expect to have a low credit score. Everything about your credit history will determine if you will get a high credit score or not. This is why it is important for you to settle those bills or loans on time in order to avoid getting a negative credit report from the creditors you borrowed money from. For example, if it took you a long time to pay for your credit card bills, the credit card company will issue a report to credit reporting agencies that will state that you haven't been paying your bills on time, or you still have a debt to pay to their company. This will result in lowering your credit score. You have to realize the fact that credit scores are very important in today's society. Even phone companies are now taking a look of their future subscriber's credit score to determine if they will likely pay the monthly phone bills or not. With a bad credit score, just simply getting a phone line hooked up in your house can be a difficult thing to do. Lenders, such as banks and credit card companies also takes a look at your credit score to determine if you will be approved for the loan or the credit card or not. Having a high credit score will open a lot of credit opportunities for you. People with high credit score have a much easier time when applying for a low interest credit card and also for a low interest loans. This is because creditors are sure that they will likely pay their debts on time. FICO or Fair Isaac Corporation is the widely used company in terms of calculating your credit score. The FICO score ranges from 300 to 850. The higher your score is, the easier you can have access to low interest loans and credit cards. In the United States, a FICO score of 725.660 is considered as a break point for credit worthiness. Having this number on your credit score is just the starting number on your way to become a credit worthy person. In order to get higher numbers, you should pay all your debts in time. What this means is that whatever loans or bills you have lying around in your home, you have to pay it in order to gain points in your credit score. If you don't, then your credit score will continue to decline and will also leave you in a far greater amount of debt. Always remember that having a good credit score is a must. If you have a 725 credit score, you are well on your way to become a credit worthy person. Increase your score and gain access to the best loan and credit card deals possible.