According to Oprah, the recession has inspired a new dating question. These days singles are asking prospective partners, “What’s your FICO score?”  That’s a question that could leave a lot of people speechless, as our latest Econ4U poll found that 43% of Americans do not know that their FICO score (credit score) is the most important factor in getting a loan.

Knowing your credit score is more important than ever. Banks and other lenders use credit scores to decide if you are a good credit risk, and employers and landlords are increasingly using credit scores to help them make decisions about who to hire and who to rent to.

So, how can you increase your score?  Here are four tips:

• Payment history is the most important part of your credit score.  Continue to make payments on time.  If you have not been making payments on time, now is a good time to start.

• After payment history, outstanding debt is the most important part of your credit score. Maxing out your credit limits on your credit card accounts will really hurt your score. So, pay down those balances on your credit cards (but you already knew that, right?).

• Slow down on opening new accounts.  Inquires add up and can hurt your credit score.

• Start now. Lowering your FICO score takes days or weeks. That’s easy. Increasing it can take months or years. That’s much harder.

If you follow these rules, maybe your next date won’t be looking around the restaurant for someone with a bigger score.