credit scores, a powerful little three-digit number ranging from 300 to 850.

Requesting your credit reports and scores is a good way to start taking control of your money. There is one most common credit score used by banks to make decisions: the FICO score, developed originally by Fair Isaac Corporation

A bad credit score -- less than 620 is considered subprime -- will have you paying 10.99 percent interest on a car loan when your friend with squeaky-clean credit is paying 6 percent, or 29 percent on a credit card when your friend's card charges 12 percent.

Credit scores can also affect your rates for mortgages and home, auto, and life insurance.

And increasingly, bosses are conducting credit checks when they make hiring decisions.

Make sure you look at credit scores and know before you buy. Not after