Checking you credit score for free

Did you know that under federal law, you are entitled to receive a free credit report from each of the 3 credit bureaus one a year: Experian, Equifax, and Transunion? You can get the report at AnnualCreditReport.com This is great, but unfortunately these reports do not include your actual credit score.

The good news

You can, and should, know your credit score. The most common score used is called the FICO score and the good news is that contrary to popular belief, checking your own credit score does not lower it. It’s a common misconception, but checking you credit score is considered a soft inquiry, and has no effect on it at all. So check away – you can even do it for free! The only catch is that it will be an estimated score, not the real thing. You can get your estimated score for free in a few places, including:

– www.creditkarma.com
– www.creditsesame.com
– www.myfico.com

The bad news

The bad news is that although you can get a free credit score check, it will be an estimated figure, not your real FICO score. Most lenders use the FICO score to determine your eligibility, and while you can’t get a a real FICO credit score for free, you can get an idea of your score as calculated by some pretty fancy algorithms.

So what do you do?

These score may vary from one another depending on the algorithm used, and may vary from your actual FICO score. So:

– Use them as a guide
– Don’t base your purchasing decisions on them, but do use them as an estimate
– If you are going to pay for a score, make sure you’re paying for a real FICO score

Want more than just a credit score check? Want a service to monitor your activity and alert you of any suspicious activity? Check out these top 10 best credit monitoring sites.