Your Credit history is one of those things about you that is important even though it isn’t right on the surface. It’s not like your blue eyes or dark hair that affect your looks, and it’s not even like your laugh or conversation skills that are obvious after a few meetings with you. Your credit history is a little bit more like your childhood hometown. It has an effect on everything you do, whether positive or negative, and it makes up a big part of who you are.

Basically, the history of your credit usage takes all of your financial transactions into account. It tells how much credit card debt you’ve carried on a regular basis, and it tells just how much money you’ve borrowed in your life. It also tells how long you’ve been using credit and whether or not you pay bills on time. All this information goes into your history, and it all makes a difference in many aspects of your life. Here are just a few ways that your credit history has an effect on your life.

This can actually affect your life on the most basic level. If you want to get a good job, you might have to have a good credit score. Because your credit history is a good indication, according to some, of your overall level of responsibility, some potential employers will check your score before they bring you on. Sometimes a bad credit score can cause an employer to reject you when they would have otherwise taken you based on your qualifications.

Also, your credit usage and history can keep you from getting the loans you need when you need them. This is probably the most important way that your credit can affect your life. Sometimes a really bad score or bad credit usage can keep you from getting a loan at all. You might go to apply for a car loan or work to get a personal loan for whatever reason and find that no one will give you money at all. This is a bad situation that takes time to remedy.

If you do get loans with an average or low credit score, you might find that you’re paying a lot of interest. Your interest rate is profoundly affected by your credit history. Even a few points can make a big difference in your monthly payments and your overall interest paid on any loan.