George Mannes

In June 2022, I had a credit score of 826 — a number that FICO, the U.S. company that issues most of these scores, deemed “exceptional.” One year later, I had a score of 670 — a 156-point drop, putting me on the brink of “fair,” a euphemism for “think twice before you lend any money to this guy.” The trigger for this decline wasn’t poverty or irresponsibility, I’m happy to say. It was curiosity. A credit score is meant to tell lenders how likely you are to repay what you borrow. A score can have…