Life insurance. A bad credit score will exclude you from top-tier life insurance, but your score doesn't weigh heavily at any other level, says Scott Menta, a Certified Financial Planner with MetLife Securities in Elmsford, N.Y. Although it does get factored in, it won't affect rates.

"A couple years ago life insurance added a top tier that 5 percent of the population qualifies for, but you are definitely excluded from that if you have a bad credit report. You could literally be an Olympic athlete and would still be excluded based on that score," he says. Forty percent of the population will be in the next tier, above average. Health is far and away the most important factor determining tier; 50 percent will be in the average tier.

Home and auto. Credit scores heavily impact home and auto insurance coverage and rates. With a poor score, you could be denied insurance outright, which is especially tough in cases where the law requires insurance. People with bad credit are assigned to a higher risk group, as insurance companies are finding a correlation between bad credit and a higher number of claims. The logic being that fiscally irresponsible people might turn to insurance as source of revenue, turn to insurance too frequently, pad claims or make dishonest claims, says Menta. "It's a bad risk," he says. "If you have a $500 deductible and a $900 claim, I normally advise my clients to eat it because we don't want their rates to go up. But someone who needs $400 might not only file the claim, but pad it."

What could it cost you? Being in the substandard risk pool costs 30 percent more. "You could have a clean driving record and still be in that group," Menta says.