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FICO scores determine how much you pay for housing & car loans (among other things). this graph shows how FICO scores in the US are distributed by population size. you do NOT want to be the folks on the far-left side of this chart.
so... any idea what your FICO is?
here's an educational piece about FICO credit scores on the Mint Software blog written by Cap of StopBuyingCrap.com. lots of great tips on how to increase your score, what's used to come up with the score, and a nifty mortgage payment calculator too. Cap is pretty smart for a guy with a hat.
the article also mentions how you can get a free copy of your credit report from the big 3 firms at AnnualCreditReport.com -- only once a year tho, and actually while you do get 3 free credit reports, you don't get the FICO score specifically... that costs an extra $8 from Experian. crap.
given all my mis-spent (literally!) youth, and the rollercoaster of my first startup, and the dot-com bust, i feel rather lucky i've managed to end up on the right-hand side of this graph, rather than the left. however, turns out i'm still not in the 800+ club. i have pretty good credit, but perhaps too many open accounts. might have been one of those 11 credit cards i used to have when i did my first startup back in the 90's.... don't ask, quite a lesson. but i did survive, and that which doesn't kill me makes me stronger. ouch. hey quit that.
(full disclosure: i'm an advisor to Mint, and they're gonna rock... signup to get notified about the private beta launch here).
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