Where can I get my credit score?

There are a few main ways to get your credit score, including from a credit card or other loan statement, a non-profit counselor, or a fee from a credit reporting agency.

You actually have more than one credit score. Credit scores are calculated based on the information in your credit reports. If the information about you in the credit reports of the three large consumer reporting companies is different, your credit score from each of the companies will be different. Lenders also use slightly different credit scores for different types of loans.

There are four main ways to get a credit score:

Check your credit card or another loan statement. Many major credit card companies and some auto loan companies have begun to provide credit scores for all their customers on a monthly basis. The score is usually listed on your monthly statement or can be found by logging in to your account online.

Talk to a non-profit counselor. Non-profit credit counselors and housing counselors trained by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development can often provide you with a free credit report and score and help you review them.

Use a credit score service. Many services and websites advertise a “free credit score.” Some sites may be funded through advertising and not charge a fee. Other sites may require that you sign up for a credit monitoring service with a monthly subscription fee in order to get your “free” score. These services are often advertised as “free” trials, but if you don’t cancel within the specified period (often as short as one week), you could be on the hook for a monthly fee. Before you sign up to try one of these services, know what you are signing up for and how much it really costs.

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Buy a score. You can buy a score directly from credit reporting companies. You can buy your FICO credit score at myfico.com. Other services may also offer scores for purchase. If you decide to purchase a credit score, you are not required to purchase credit protection, identity theft monitoring, or other services that may be offered at the same time.

Some credit score sources provide an “educational” credit score, instead of a score that a lender would use. The CFPB published a report on the differences between educational scores and those used by lenders. For most people, an academic score will be close to the scores lenders use and can be helpful for consumers. But the scores can be quite different for some. Our report found a meaningful difference for one out of four people. When choosing where to get your credit score, find out what kind of score it is.

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How Can I Check Credit Scores?

Credit scores are how financial institutions assess your credit risk. Even though credit reports from the three nationwide credit bureaus don’t usually contain credit scores, there are other ways to check your score.

Highlights:

• Credit reports from the three nationwide credit bureaus do not usually contain credit scores
• You may be able to get a credit score from your credit card company, financial institution, or loan statement
• You can also use a credit score service or a free credit scoring site.

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Many people think if you check your credit reports from the three nationwide credit bureaus, you’ll see credit scores as well. But that’s not the case: credit reports from the three nationwide credit bureaus do not usually contain credit scores. Before we talk about where you can get credit scores, there are a few things to know about credit scores, themselves.

One of the first things to know is that you don’t have only one credit score. Credit scores are designed to represent your credit risk or the likelihood you will pay your bills on time. Credit scores are calculated based on a method using the content of your credit reports.

Score providers, such as the three nationwide credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — and companies like FICO use different types of credit scoring models and may use different information to calculate credit scores. Credit scores provided by the three nationwide credit bureaus will also vary because some lenders may report information to all three, two or one, or none at all. And lenders and creditors may use additional information, other than credit scores, to decide whether to grant you credit.

So how can you get credit scores? Here are a few ways:

Check your credit card, financial institution, or loan statement. Many credit card companies, banks, and loan companies have started providing credit scores for their customers. It may be on your statement, or you can access it online by logging into your account.
Purchase credit scores directly from one of the three major credit bureaus or other providers, such as FICO.
Use a credit score service or free credit scoring site. Some sites provide a free credit score to users. Others may provide credit scores to credit monitoring customers paying a monthly subscription fee.
In addition to checking your credit scores, it’s a good idea to regularly check your credit reports to ensure that the information is accurate and complete.

You’re entitled to a free copy of your credit reports every 12 months from each of the three nationwide credit bureaus by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com. You can also create a myEquifax account to get six free Equifax credit reports each year. In addition, you can click “Get my free credit score” on your myEquifax dashboard to enroll in Equifax Core Credit™ for a free monthly Equifax credit report and a free monthly VantageScore® 3.0 credit score, based on Equifax data. A VantageScore is one of many types of credit scores.

If you find the information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete on your credit reports, contact the lender or creditor. You can also file a dispute with the credit bureau that provided the report. At Equifax, you can create a myEquifax account to file a dispute. Visit our dispute page to learn other ways you can submit a dispute.

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