Learn to get free credit scores, buy credit scores, how to choose between FICO and other scores.
Mostly a free credit score is available as a part of free trial offers from the credit bureaus Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. MyFico.com also offers a free credit score. One of the best ways to get a free credit score is from CreditKarma.com. However, this is not your FICO credit score.
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The main problem in getting a free credit score is that they are made a part of a trial of a service being offered any of the above mentioned websites, which usually lasts for about a week such as a credit monitoring service. Once the trial is over you will be charged.
Read this article to the end to find out what is your credit score, where all you can get your credit scores, free credit score trials and where to find and how to use the FICO credit score estimator. Before accessing your credit score, it is highly recommended that you read this post as well, Understand and Know Your Different Credit Scores. This will help you understand what are the different credit scores being used by different credit bureaus and which credit score you are get when you sign up with either. For example, if you want to access your FICO credit score, you should not make the mistake of signing up with Experian who will give you their proprietary PLUS™ in stead.
What is a Credit Score
Your credit score is a three digit number that summarizes your credit rating. The reason to check your credit score is to analyze and review how your credit rating stands in the eyes of lenders.
The credit score is a number that stands for your creditworthiness and credit rating. All creditors before granting credit to a consumer check their credit score. There was a time when checking the credit score of a consumer was enough of the purpose of granting simple credit such as credit cards and even personal loans.
Different credit scores have different metrics of measurement. FICO credit score is a number between 300-850 where as others may have a different range and even alphabetical grading from A-D.
However, a credit score is the single most important parameter as far as your credit rating is concerned.
Can I Get Free Credit Scores?
The answer is, both yes and no. You can get a free credit score from several sources specially if you are ordering one for the first time. These are the ways to get them.
- All the 3 credit bureaus sell credit scores, albeit each ones sells a different score based on a model developed by themselves. All the 3 credit bureaus have free trials that allow you to see your credit score.
- myFICO.com sells your FICO credit score and allows you a free trial where you can see your FICO score for free. This is the only place where you can get your FICO credit scores.
- CreditKarma.com offers totally free credit scores from TransUnion as well as Insurance Credit Scores. You will need to input your SSN.
- Use the FICO Credit Score Estimator.
All of the above are discussed below in greater detail.
FICO Free Credit Score Estimator
First we will discuss a method in which you can evaluate your credit score for free. Notice that we mention the word “evaluate” rather than “check” or “view”. This is because we’re talking about something called the credit score estimator. The most reliable credit score estimator is provided by myFICO.com and is present on several third-party websites. You can find the myFICO credit score estimator on the website of myFICO.com by clicking on the following link: MyFICO Credit Score Estimator. You should understand that using our credit score estimator is probably of maximum benefit during the initial stages of credit evaluation. If you find to get a rough estimate of what your credit rating is like for the first time then a credit score estimator making you a fair idea. However there can be a deviation from your credit score estimator and your actual credit score. For this reason it is always a good idea to get your actual credit score from a reliable source whenever you are applying for a major line of credit and want to find out your credit rating beforehand. While a credit score estimator is believed to be fairly accurate that can be a difference of 20 to 50 points with your actual credit score. For this reason while this tool can be handy to give you an idea of where your credit rating stands it is only score good idea to get your actual credit score from myFICO.com before trying to get approved for a major loan.
Free Credit Score from CreditKarma.com
Free TransUnion Credit Scores from CreditKarma.com
Another online resource that offers free credit scores is the website of CreditKarma.com. This website is unlike other online offers that you might come across for free credit score offers. While there are plenty of websites offering free credit scores they usually do so in exchange for a trial membership subscription to another service such as credit monitoring etc. This trial period usually lasts from 5 to 10 days and if you forget to cancel within the trial period your credit card gets charged. CreditKarma.com is different in the sense that they do not require the consumer to input any credit card information before providing you with a free credit score. This website claims to pull the credit score from TransUnion.com and provide you with the TransUnion credit score. Once again, this is NOT your FICO credit score.
CreditKarma.com claims to be able to not charge the consumers for their credit scores and offsets its cost by placing advertisements on their website from affiliated advertisers. However, you are faced with the same contention with CreditKarma.com as you are with a myFICO.com credit score estimator. Even the CreditKarma.com claims to pull your actual credit score from the database of TransUnion.com users have found out that there is difference of 20 to 50 points between their actual credit score from TransUnion.com There is also a drawback that CreditKarma.com provides you with your credit score from TransUnion.com and not your myFICO credit scores which are the most widely used credit scores amongst various lenders.
As mentioned before there are several websites that will offer you your credit score for free as a part of a trial program to a subscription service such as credit monitoring.
Free Credit Score Trial Offers
Free Credit Score from myFICO.com
The official website of myFICO.com offers a similar trial to get your credit score for free. You have the opportunity to view your credit score for free when you begin their 10 day trial membership of a program called Score Watch®. If you do not cancel your subscription within the ten-day trial period you will be charged $12.95 each month to continue your membership.
Free Credit Score from TransUnion.com
TransUnion offers you a free credit scores when you sign up for their credit monitoring service called TrueCredit for a seven-day free trial, $14.95 per month thereafter. They give you access to TransUnion credit scores.
Free Credit Score from Equifax
The website of Equifax credit bureau offers two different products by which you can view your credit score. You can either purchased the three bureau credit report and score in which you get to you your credit report as well as your credit scores from TransUnion, Equifax and TransUnion for the price of $39.95. The second product is that you get to view your credit report and credit score from Equifax for the price of $15.95.
Free Credit Score from Experian
Experian credit bureau offers you your credit score for one dollar minimum for a seven-day trial membership in the Triple Advantage Program. After the trial period is over, you will be billed $14.95 per month till you cancel your membership. Experian Triple Advantage Program is a credit monitoring service. Remember that your FICO credit score is only available from the website of myFICO.com.
Note: Remember that in most cases, the free trial offers will work only for the first time users and one time with one credit card.
Buy a Credit Score
myFICO.com – This is the only websites that sells the official FICO credit scores.
Equifax.com – This is the website of Equifax credit bureau which also sells credit scores to the consumers.
TransUnion.com – This is the site of TransUnion credit bureau which also sells credit scores to the consumer.
Experian.com – This is the website of experience credit bureau which also sells the credit score to consumers.
On all of these mentioned websites you can also access your credit score for free as a part of some trial offer for a limited time.