What can I read into my credit score?

In a word, everything! Even if you know what is on your credit report, you still need to know your scores. Why? Because about three-quarters of lenders and financial institutions go by the FICO scores to determine creditworthiness. (source)

With that in mind, you have your number. What does it mean? The best way to explain it is that it’s much like those standardized SAT tests you took in school. Your test score got you slotted into a certain category, and it's the same thing here. Credit scores generally range from 300 to 850, though you almost never see anything that low or that high.

Just over half of Americans have credit scores of 700 or higher, and if you're around 720 or higher you are, generally speaking, in pretty good shape.