Knowing everything you possibly can about your financial situation is not only smart these days, but positively critical.
This is why it is so valuable to know what your credit score is, and especially if you are thinking of taking out a loan for something.
Your credit score is a good indication of how lenders, landlords, and other people view your financial situation.
If you've been paying your bills on time, haven't missed a payment, maxed out your cards, or used up more than twenty-five percent of your available credit, then you are most likely standing on very good ground.
All you need to do to maintain this score is to stay on top of your bills and not over-extend yourself, or max out your credit card.
A low credit score, on the other hand, will tell those very same people that this is either not the right time to be making deals with you, or that you aren't someone who will likely pay back any money borrowed by you.
This will make it difficult for you on many fronts, but is by no means the end of the world.
If you're looking for a loan, there are still some places that will accept people with low-credit scores.
The best thing you can do for yourself, however, is to go about raising your score.
While it's true that any issues made known on your credit report will take seven to ten years to be dropped, this doesn't mean that it will take that same amount of time to raise your score.
Simply staying on top of all your monthly payments, while working to reduce your debt load, will help improve your score drastically.
For whatever reason drives you, checking your credit score on a regular basis is a good component of healthy finances.