Credit reports show your credit score, which is just a three digit number. But that little number on your credit report can effect anything from whether you get that job you applied for to whether your can open a premium bank account.

So why do you need to get a credit report and know your credit score?

Credit Report: Rent

Landlords check credit score too for similar reasons. They want to see that you will pay your rent on time. However, it is not as important as how much money you make or whether you have a stable job history. Landlords will also want to know whether you have enough money saved up to cover three months of living expenses (so rent, food, utilities, etc.) which means that you will have to be able to show them that you have money in your bank account.

Credit Report: Buying a home

Buying a home is a lot like buying a car, in that both of them are large investments requiring large loans. However, home loans usually only require 10% of the total money upfront, and this amount is fairly standard regardless of credit, though it can be 25% like it was in the past. Therefore, having good credit is even more important for buying a home than it is for buying a car. If you have bad credit, you should need to carefully examine any loan a bank gives you and make sure they cannot change the interest rates they charge you: Under no circumstances should you get an “adjustable rate” loan.

Credit report: Starting a business

Starting a business where you make money at home might eventually require you to take out a big loan to invest in your business. For example, let’s say blog and use an in-text advertising service such as Infolinks or Skimlinks. Your blog starts doing so well that you want to move your business from your home to an office, but your community does not have any office space. If this happens, you’d need to build your own office building. This would require you to take out a loan, and the quality of loan you get is dependent on your credit score.

This is a guest post by Murray Newlands. Murray and his company Influence People do blogger outreach for a variety of clients.