Your credit score is one of those things that you don’t have to care about…until you really do. It’s a system that kind of makes sense, but also can be crazy unfair.

In this episode Sara and Caitlin (but mostly Caitlin) grill Lending Tree credit expert Matt Schulz on how credit scores are calculated and what it actually means. Do they stay the same for all of our lives? Can we make them better? Do they get worse if we check them every week?

He tells us some very bad news about how bad credit can cost you a ton of money over your lifetime, but also hopeful news about how to build up your credit score so you can get out of the cycle.

Here are some of the resources we mentioned in the episode:

The government’s consumer watchdog website: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

You can check your credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com - it’s a no strings attached website that you can trust.

The three big credit bureaus where you can check your credit score and freeze your credit so no one can open up a credit card or line of credit on your behalf:

TransUnion Experian Equifax

And to find out more financial tips from Matt, follow him on Twitter @matthewschulz and subscribe to his newsletter. And watch out for his book in 2024 that promises to help people pay less, earn more and keep more of their money by asking the right questions in everyday situations.

Oh! And do you have a passive income story? A success? A failure? Tell us about it in a voice memo and e-mail it to: [email protected]

Ask us your dumb investing and finance questions for Season 2 on our Ask Us page!

This episode was edited by our co-producer Kelly West. Music by Bad Bad Hats and Devmo.