How important are FICO scores these days? Extremely. If you are purchasing anything and need credit your FICO score will determine if you can get credit and what interest rate you'll pay. Credit scores range between 300 and 850.

Scores under 680 are on the fringe of scrutiny with lenders. Some will charge a much higher interest rate to borrow so it will cost you more in the end on your credit cards, your mortgage rate, and your car loan.

FICO scores come from a combination of your debt load, payment history, amount of credit you are using and other miscellaneous factors such as foreclosures or other debt defaults

A good resource to learn how to increase your FICO score and other questions about how this scoring works, go to www.myFICO.com