Your credit score is a 3-digit number on a scale of 300 to 850 that suggests how creditworthy you are—meaning, how good you are with credit and how much you can be trusted to pay back what you borrow.

Credit is when you receive money, a good or a service, and you agree to pay for it in the future—usually with added interest. Nowadays, we use credit to buy lots of things, from houses and cars to groceries and clothing.

Your credit can be brought down a lot faster than it can be brought up, so it might help to review these things that can hurt your credit:

• Not paying bills on time

• Filing for bankruptcy or foreclosure

• Applying for too many credit accounts

• Carrying high balances on your credit cards

• Ignoring questionable negative items on your report.

There are five main contributors to your credit score–payment history, amount of debt, length of credit history, credit mix and new credit. Managing your credit wisely by paying your bills on time, paying debt down and maintaining your current accounts could improve your score.

Yes, credit monitoring is mandatory during the whole credit repair process.