Behind on bills? Debt piling up? Facing foreclosure? For many Americans in these situations, one of their biggest concerns is protecting their credit. Which is sad. At a time when you should be more concerned with feeding your family, producing an income, keeping your house, and hanging on to your marriage, instead their head is wrapped around a three digit number. Perhaps this is a good time to review exactly what your credit score is NOT - a measure of winning.

After the jump, we'll review 4 things that don't affect your FICO score.

1. Income - It seems so basic. An almost indispensable measure of ones ability to pay a bill. Yet when assessing your ability to do just that, a cable company or mobile phone provider isn't looking at that. For all they know, you may make $100k per year, or be unemployed. A FICO score does not reflect that. Six figures is trumped by three.
   
2. Investments - As much as you income is not considered, neither are your investments. $50k in mutual funds? Not nearly as important as that phone bill that got sent to collections 5 years ago.
   
3. Savings - Ok, ok, investments aren't exactly liquid. Are liquid assets weighed as a part of your score? Emergency funds? CDs? Money Market accouts? No way.
   
4. Net Worth - The no-holds barred measure of financial success. What you own minus what you owe. As Dave Ramsey often discusses - he has no FICO score, he hasn't borrowed money in so long that Fair Issac cannot calculate a score. He's a multi-millionaire. He can't rent an appartment at that complex down the street. He could cut a check and buy the entire place, but they wouldn't rent to him.

No one would dispute the importance of these 4 things. The 4 most important considerations in assessing your financial well-being. And yet none of it factors into your FICO score.

So what does that tell you?

It has nothing to do with your financial success. It simply shows your history of making payments and your willingness to stay in debt - your creditworthiness. Stop worrying about it. Stop stewing and fretting. Stop borrowing money and you'll find how little your FICO score matters.