How to Get a Credit Score

There are many places to get your credit score, often for free with a trial of a pay service. There are also numerous ways to get a credit report free without your credit score. The three major credit-reporting agencies are Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, and the most commonly used credit scores include FICO and VantageScore. Before you go through the process of a score from any source, you need to understand the distinction between a score and a report, and how each of the relevant parties operates.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

How to Get a Credit Score

1. Understand what a credit score is. A credit score is the sum of an analysis of credit information computed in your credit report. The three major credit-reporting agencies in the United States are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Each of these may use different information reported by your creditors; therefore, your score will be different depending on which company's report is used to calculate it.

2. Understand the different types of credit scores. FICO, a product of the Fair Isaac Corporation, is the most popular and widely used credit score, and ranges between 300 and 850. Each of the credit-reporting bureaus has its own kind of score: Experian's PLUS, Equifax's ScorePower and TransUnion's credit score. Each of the three reporting agencies also reports the VantageScore.

3. Choose a source from which to get your credit score. You can order your credit score directly from each of the three credit bureaus, or from the creator of the score you are interested in, such as myFICO.com. (See Resources.)

4. Sign up to get your credit score. You can buy your credit score and report outright, or sign up for a credit-score monitoring program that may offer a free trial.

5. Cancel your free trial program if you signed up for a credit-score monitoring service and do not wish to pay for it.

6. Sign up to get a free credit report. While you will have to pay for (or sign up for a trial of) a pay service to get your credit score, you can receive a copy of your credit report with no obligation from each of the three credit-reporting agencies once each year. See the last link in Resources, or call [phone].

Resources

• myFICO.com
• VantageScore Information
• Annual Credit Report

Who Can Help Sponsored

• How strong is your score?  Did you know checking your own credit won’t affect your score? Click here to see yours in two easy steps from Experian.
• A Bad Credit Score is 598 or Below. Checking your own Credit Report won't affect your score! See instantly for $0 by Experian® www.FreeCreditReport.com