You do not need to be a financial expert to realize your credit score is important.
Unless you pay for everything in cash, bad credit can be quite an annoyance.
Basically, to borrow any amount of money from a lender, you need to fill out an application.
At this point, they're going to run some background checks on you and they're going to thoroughly analyze your credit history.
Your credit score is a three digit number that is created by the three main credit reporting bureaus.
They are TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax.
Creditors report to them as consistent intervals.
Some may report monthly, some may report quarterly but at some point they do report to the credit bureaus.
The big three then analyze all of the data and using their own calculations to determine a score.
Since there is always new information being reported your score is constantly changing.
So you end up with three different credit scores but they should all fall within the same general range.
The lender that you are trying to get a loan from will base a lot on these credit scores.
It's basically a summary of your credit worthiness simplified into a three digit number.
A low score will indicate to them that it is risky to loan you money.
At this point, they will deny your loan or stick you with a high interest rate to recoup their losses if you default.
Since your score is constantly changing you ultimately decide what gets reported by your actions.
Take the time to build good credit practices and begin reporting positive information.
You may also benefit from the services of a credit repair company.