<prompt> Human: Ive been seeing a lot of posts here about credit score and people discussing it, but its never been clear to me what its really for.  <response>: It is used to assess your creditworthiness and likeliness to be able to pay your bills.When you go to rent an apartment, generally the landlord will run your credit so they can see if you have stiffed other landlords before and not paid. They can see if you owe lots of money compared to your income and so that you wouldnt likely be able to afford the rent on the place.If you get a job that deals with money, expect to have your credit checked. The theory is that people in financial distress which a credit report would show are more susceptible to being blackmailed into stealing money that they have access to from their employer.If you want to buy a house, your credit will be checked. This is used to determine your debt-to-income ratio. If your debt is high compared to your income, then adding more debt in the form of a house is likely to cause you to default and the bank to lose money, so they wont lend the money for the house. If your credit score is low, then it likely means you have either never handled credit responsibly much or else that you have a history of not paying your bills on time and so you are a bad risk to the bank.Basically, whenever someone needs to assess your ability to pay what you are signing up for, they will check your credit.How you earn a good credit score is by using credit responsibly and paying those bills on time, every time. 