When you sit down with a lender to try to get a loan for the car or the house you want, one of the first thing the loan officer will ask is if you know what your credit score is. While a lender may try to make you feel bad or unworthy if your score is below 750, you might be interested to know that the average credit national score hovers around 580 points to 680 points.

Of course, if your score is a good 650, the lender may not tell you that it is solidly in the average range, but instead will prefer to make you squirm so that you will accept the bad news that your loan is going to cost more because of your credit rating.

Even though there are many benefits to having a 700 financial rating or above, and this is a great goal to shoot for, the paradox is that gaining a great score that opens up many credit opportunities for you will come to you as you minimize the level of debt in your life and maintain a debt-to-income ratio in the neighborhood of 30 percent.

If that is the approach your loan officer is taking with you, you might just want to find someone else who is more friendly and who will work with you, and even acknowledge that you are not in such bad shape in comparison to the average credit national score.

Did you know that a loan officer, especially the ones who deal with cars loans and home loans, or mortgages, are really sales people who often try to disguise that fact? And, what that means to you is that they earn more for a loan they write that has a higher interest rate, so they are not really motivated to find you the best deal, but they are motivated to get you to accept the highest rate possible. If you know what average credit scores are, and how your own personal score compares to the national average credit score, then you may be able to push back and get a better rate and better terms.

Too often, when it comes to trying to get credit and you have fair credit scores you will be treated as a second class citizen and made to feel like you have to grovel for a loan. The reality is that every company that does loan you money makes money in the arrangement, so they should treat you as a valued customer rather than making you feel like they are doing you a favor.

Now, even with that in mind, no one can overlook the fact that having a good credit score will benefit you in many ways because of our financial society is driven by the average credit national scores that people develop through the careful management or the careless disregard for their financial obligations.

By law, you have the right to get free annual credit scores from the three main credit reporting agencies. Having your own copy of your scores will allow you to know exactly what is on your report and get any incorrect information quickly corrected.

The bottom line is that you should be an aware consumer by knowing your credit score and how it compares to average credit national score. With that information you should know your value as a customer and be empowered to shop around and compare so that you get the best loan terms possible.