5. A higher score will help you (A) get approved for a mortgage loan and (B) secure a good / low interest rate on that loan. A low score will make it harder to do these things.

6. You actually have three different credit scores -- one produced by each of the three credit-reporting agencies: TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. They do not always match.

7. At the time of this article publication, there is no way to get your credit score without paying a small fee for it. You will often see "free" scores offered on websites, but it will require you to sign up for some kind of credit-monitoring service. Save your money and just get the scores.

8. You can get all three of your credit reports (different from your scores) for free, once per year. The government actually mandates this by law. But the only website regulated by the FTC for this purpose is AnnualCreditReport.com.

9. If your score is low, you can improve it by reducing your credit card balance, by paying all of your bills on time, and by fixing any errors on your credit reports. There's a reason you hear this bit of advice all the time. It works!

10. There's a lot of misinformation and confusion surrounding this topic. But it's not as complicated as some people make it out to be. Good financial activity leads to a good score. And the reverse is true for bad financial activity. You are in complete control of your credit score -- nobody can improve it but you.

I hope you found this lesson helpful, and I wish you well in your home buying efforts. Brandon Cornett