· Money Moves · Credit scores
Credit Score City: a free game about credit scores
Bills, cards and loan offers land in the mail. Make each month's call and watch your score, and your loan rate, move.
What is Credit Score City?
A year of mail in Credit Score City: a card bill, a store-card offer, a phone contract, a missed reminder. Each month pick what to do and watch a made-up score from 300 to 850 move, and with it the rate a lender would offer on a loan.
Credit Score City is a free money game about credit scores. A year of mail arrives: card bills, store-card offers, a phone contract, a reminder you almost missed.
Each month you pick a move, and a made-up score from 300 to 850 goes up or down. At the end, the score sets the rate a lender would offer on a loan.
At a glance
- Category
- Money Moves
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Play time
- 3–5 min
- Price
- Free, in your browser, sign-up optional
How to play
- Choose
- Each month a letter or an offer arrives. Pick one of three moves: pay on time, pay the minimum, open something new, ignore it.
- Watch
- On-time payments and low use of your limits lift the score; late payments and lots of new credit pull it down.
- Three levels
- Beginner, Intermediate or Expert, picked before you play: the content and the clock change, and each level keeps its own best score.
- Coins
- Example numbers in plain fictional coins, made up for the game. Not financial advice.
Scoring
100 for the best move each month, 40 for a harmless one, plus half your final score above 300.
Each level keeps its own best score in this browser.
What it trains
- Credit habits
- What lifts a score and what drags it.
- Cost of credit
- How a score changes a loan's rate.
Strategy and tips
- On time, every time
- Paying on time is the steadiest way up. One late payment can undo months of good ones.
- Use little of your limit
- Owing a small share of the credit you have reads better than maxing a card, even if you pay it later.
- New credit adds up
- Every new card or store account is a check on your file. Several in a short time pull the score down.
Why play Credit Score City?
Lenders, landlords and phone companies look at credit history. Knowing what moves it helps you borrow for less when it matters.
Frequently asked questions
Is Credit Score City free?
Yes. It is free and runs in your browser, with no download. Signing up is optional.
Is this financial advice?
No. Every number is an example in fictional coins, made up for the game. It teaches the ideas; for real decisions, look at your own situation and local rules, or ask a qualified adviser.
Are there levels?
Yes: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert. The numbers, the hints and the clock change, and each level keeps its own best score.
Is the score scale real?
The 300–850 range is a common example. Real scores, ranges and rules differ between countries and agencies.