The all-mysterious credit score isn't so mysterious if one understands from where it comes. And that's Equifax, primarily. Equifax can help an individual track their score and figure out how to make it better, if taking out a car loan is a good plan or if going ahead with putting that billion-inch TV on credit isn't an excellent idea. Equifax also services businesses, so that car company knows if the individual might not be able to keep up with a car loan. Equifax isn't just an American company -- they work across 18 other countries and they're the number one credit score company in almost all of those countries.