Rule #1: What you borrow, you pay back with interest. Once you’ve signed on the dotted line, you’ve committed yourself to repay that loan, and then some. According to Steve Rhode, creator of myvesta. com’s “The History of Money and Debt,” an entertaining and enlightening online exhibit, the Sumerians were the first recorded culture to develop the concept of interest, and they called it mash, the word for calves. Herds of cows were loaned for, say, a year. When the herd was returned, calves had been born and the size of the herd had increased. These calves were the interest on the loan of the original cows. As Rhodes says, “If cattle were the standard currency of the time, then loans in all comparable commodities would be expected to “give birth” as well. Why shouldn’t the same be true for money?

Rule #2: If you don’t pay, you suffer. There are consequences when you don’t repay a loan-unpleasant ones. Urgent messages arrive in the mail, creditors call you at home, and surprise visits from skilled repossessors come to take back what you bought but didn’t pay for. Avoid this type of grief in your life. Repay what you borrow.

Rule #3: If you pay your loan on time with interest and you are rewarded. In other words, companies in the business of loaning money will think you’re great and will want to loan you even more because they know chances are good you will pay them back.

Rule #4: Your performance in the game of debt earns you a score. Everyone has a credit score. Three primary credit agencies in the United States keep sophisticated records of each individual’s credit history, including yours. The better you pay back a loan (for example, you never miss a loan payment and you always pay your loan on time each month) the better your credit score will become. An excellent credit score simplifies life in a number of ways, from simplified car loans to a better night’s sleep.

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