Hi, it's Terry Gross, host of Fresh Air.

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Hey, good morning. I'm Patricia Murphy. It's President's Day. This is Seattle now.

We're more than a month into 2026. It's a new year and a great time to check your credit score for free.

If you don't know why you should keep an eye on this important number,

stick around KUOW's newest podcast.

Control F tackled the question on their very first episode.

Here's host Tio Pescu explaining the number that shapes our economic destiny to host Claire McGrain.

So credit scores, what are they good for?

I'm pretty sure for loans, right?

Yes, but they also get used by landlords to decide if you can actually rent into their building.

Oh, I don't think I realized that.

Oh, yeah.

Quite a few use it as kind of a metric for that. But also, that's how you get qualified for a credit card that doesn't have a ridiculous interest rate.

That's also how you get hired for certain jobs that have like financial elements to them.

Well, okay, they look at your personal financial information to see if you're like,

...