A while back, I worked with someone I’ll call Sarah.

Sarah wasn’t coming to me because she wanted to buy a house or finance a car. She came to me because she was going through a divorce and one of her first goals was finding an apartment.

Like many people facing a major life change, she was dealing with a hundred different emotions and decisions all at once. There were attorneys to talk to, paperwork to complete, accounts to separate, and a future she hadn’t planned on creating.

She wanted a fresh start. A place of her own. Somewhere she could begin rebuilding her life.

She found an apartment she loved. The location was perfect. The rent fit her budget. Everything seemed to be falling into place.

Then the property manager ran her credit.

A few days later, she called me.

“I don’t understand,” she said. “Why are they looking at my credit score? I’m not asking for a loan.”

It’s a question I hear more often than you might think.

Many people assume credit scores only matter when you’re borrowing money. The truth is that your credit score follows you into many areas of life.

For Sarah, it was threatening to block the one thing she needed most: stability.

When we pulled her credit report together, things started to make sense.

In the chaos leading up to the divorce, a few payments had slipped. Balances were higher than she’d realized. Nothing impossible to fix, but enough to raise concerns for a landlord reviewing her application.

Here’s what struck me about Sarah’s situation: she wasn’t irresponsible. She was overwhelmed. There’s a difference.

Fortunately, she was able to address those issues and move forward. The experience taught her something most people don’t learn until it’s too late.

Your credit score isn’t just for a loan. It’s a financial fingerprint. And it’s on file everywhere.

It can affect where you live.

It can affect what you pay for insurance.

In some situations, it can even affect employment opportunities.

Several months later, Sarah decided to check her credit report again. Not because she was applying for anything. Just because, after everything she’d been through, she’d made it a habit.

That habit may have saved her thousands of dollars.

While reviewing her report, she noticed an account she didn’t recognize.

After making a few phone calls, she learned someone had attempted to use her personal information to open credit. Because she caught it early, the damage was minimal. If she’d waited six months or a year, the way most people do — that story ends very differently.

That’s one of the reasons I encourage clients to know their credit score and review their credit reports regularly, because your credit is part of your overall financial picture.

It tells a story about what’s happening with your finances, and sometimes it can alert you to problems before they become much larger issues.

If I asked you today what your credit score is, would you know the answer?

Not roughly. Actually know.

More importantly, do you know how to check it?

And do you know what’s on your credit report — who’s looked at it, what accounts are listed, whether everything there actually belongs to you?

If the answer is no, you’re not alone. But you’re also not protected.

If not, now is a good time to find out.

Life transitions have a way of showing us things we didn’t realize mattered. Divorce was that wake-up call for Sarah.

My hope is that you won’t have to wait for a major life event to discover the importance of your credit score.

Check it. Review it. Understand it.

Because whether you’re applying for a loan, looking for a new apartment, shopping for insurance, or simply protecting yourself from identity theft, your credit score matters more than most people realize.