09/04/2026
There’s an interesting lesson here, but the history is missing one important part.
The FICO credit score we know today was launched in 1989. But banks were judging creditworthiness and credit agencies were tracking borrowers many years before that.
The biggest change was how automated and standardized everything became.
In the past, a local lender might know where you worked, your family, your reputation, and your history of paying people back.
Today, lenders can look at one number and make a decision much faster.
And that number can affect:
Your mortgage interest rate.
Your monthly car payment.
Whether you get approved for a credit card.
Your insurance rates in certain states.
Your ability to rent an apartment.
That’s what makes the system so important.
Credit scoring made borrowing faster, easier, and more consistent. But it also created a system where a small difference in your score can end up costing you thousands over time.
The lesson isn’t that credit scores are automatically good or bad.
The lesson is that knowing how credit works is now a major part of being financially educated.
You don’t have to agree with the system.
But you definitely need to understand how it works.
Every single derogatory item on your report drags all of your scoring systems down. It increases costs such as car insurance , renting deposits , and interest rates on every type of loan or financing opportunity.
Let us go after every single negative across all of your reports - the investment of $400 is typically saved on removed debt the first collection or charge off we remove. The scoring system isn’t going anywhere - work within it and better yourself.
