Here are just a few items that a recent study by the General Accounting Office found:

• Financial professionals usually recommend that Americans keep their charge card balance to less than half of their credit limit. Only one half of surveyed people realize that using credit cards or home equity credit lines to their limit hurts their FICO score. A maxed out bank card can significantly affect a FICO score.
• Only 33% of respondents knew that companies and insurance companies regularly use credit reports and FICO scores to derive rates or eligibility for employment. Many prospective employers regularly check records in order to avoid employing people with a history of debt woes.
• About half of the those surveyed think that a FICO score can be raised by a raise in income. The credit score is only a measure of ability to pay back as agreed, and not a measure of earning capacity.

• Three quarters of consumers believe that they can receive a copy of their FICO figure for no charge once a year. A cost free copy of the FICO score would be useful, but the Federal law that allows consumers to obtain a no-cost credit report from each credit bureau annually does not mandate that the FICO scores come with them. The bureaus are permitted by law to request payment for credit scores, and so the no-cost credit report does not come with the FICO score.
• Each bureau has their own credit scoring model, which generates different scores. Obtaining copies of your report from every credit bureau also helps identify errors, which should be repaired quickly. Only half of respondents understand that there is no "universal score." The best way to keep up with your reports and scores is to contact each bureau and obtain copies of that bureau's documentation so that you can compare notes from one bureau to the other.
• 50% were not aware that unfavorable information on their financial history, such as bankruptcy or a loan default could stay on their record for as long as ten years. A bankruptcy filing can stay on the report for ten years; other financial irregularities usually stay for seven.

As of September 1, 2005, everyone is authorized to receive a copy of their financial record for free. Anyone who would like to see just how comprehensive the financial information about them can be should obtain a copy of their financial record. The only way to increase a poor score is to work harder to pay bills in full and on time. The sooner one starts to repay bills promptly, the sooner one can get positive results.

That such important financial information is so widely misunderstood is pretty disconcerting, as it is all but impossible to get by in contemporary's society without a good financial history. The ability to obtain a job or a place to live is dependent on the ability to pay bills quickly, and a failure to understand that makes it hard to borrow money.