In an ideal world, you’d have, or you’d be able to save, enough money to afford all of the things you need and want. There are times, though, when you may want to borrow money and pay it back, usually with additional charges called interest. For example, most people need to borrow money for large purchases such as a car or a house. Lenders decide whether to lend you money, how much they’ll lend, and how much interest to charge,  by looking at your credit reports to understand how much money you’ve borrowed in the past, how much you’re borrowing now, and how you’ve paid it back. Credit scores are numbers used to summarize the information in your credit reports in a consistent way, making it faster and easier for lenders to make borrowing decisions.