Having a favorable credit record is integral to getting products or services at a reasonable rate. Most creditors pull up a minumum of one of the scores, whether you are searching for a loan, housing, credit cards, as well as other service or product.
It’s vital that you have a minimum of a tough idea of your present credit score, whether that’s so you’re prepared for what creditors are going to see when they pull-up your history, you are attempting to improve your score, or anything else.
Several different services will help you obtain a good overall picture of the credit health. But what are best? And what do their scores really tell you? Below, we explain what credit scores are and list some of our favorite places to access your scores for free.
Read on for that details!
What Are Credit ratings?
In short, credit scores are numbers that represent your creditworthiness. Lenders, credit card issuers, and other services that expect payment for their products and services, for example power companies, mobile phone providers, and much more, look at your credit rating. Your score indicates how likely you're to pay on-time in the future. Personal credit scores range anywhere from 300 to 850; the larger your score, the better.
Each creditor has their own ideas about what’s considered “good” credit, but typically, if you have a score above 600, you won’t possess a difficult time finding creditors prepared to use you. However, the larger your credit, the more services you’ll qualify for and the better rates you’ll receive.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have just one credit score; in fact, there are many. Credit scores come from your credit report — past your past debts, payments, along with other information gathered by credit reporting agencies. The three big credit reporting agencies are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. While all three agencies gather similar details about you, they may not have the ability to exactly the same information. You can learn more concerning the particulars of the agencies via our guide to the three credit agencies.
A scoring algorithm, usually either VantageScore or FICO, is used to your credit report to generate your score. As a result, consumers have many different credit scores, with respect to the scoring system and the credit history your information was derived from.
VantageScore VS FICO
Credit scores are derived from your credit score using a scoring model, either VantageScore or FICO. Have scales of 300 to 850, but they might return different scores because they place importance on several factors.
Most free credit rating services get their data from VantageScore. However, many creditors will look at the FICO score. If a potential lender pulls your TransUnion FICO score, for instance, they will obtain a different number than you see out of your free credit rating service.
That said, the difference in scores doesn’t tend to be significant; if you have a high FICO score, you will also have a high score from VantageScore. Conversely, for those who have poor (or inaccurate) marks in your report, they'll be reflected by both VantageScore and FICO as a lower score. For general credit rating monitoring, either VantageScore or FICO will suit most consumer’s purposes.
If you should know your FICO score, for whatever reason, you've got a few different options:
- Some of the FICO scores can be accessed free of charge via Discover Credit Scorecard (see below). This score comes from your Equifax data.
- Scores based on the 3 credit rating agencies can be bought from FICO via myFICO. Currently, monthly access to scores all three agencies can be bought for $39.95 ($29.95 for quarterly access).
- Some creditors, or other places that extend credit, will give you your scores if you're a customer.
Be aware, however, that even though you check your FICO score in the same agency that your lender does, you still may be looking at a different score. FICO offers a number of different credit ratings, some of which are not open to consumers.
For a complete comparison of VantageScore and FICO, take a look at ’s guide to credit rating models.
The Best Free Credit rating Sites
The following are the most popular credit score services. These services derive scores from a minumum of one of the three major credit reporting agencies. All offer services for free are available to all consumers.
Credit Karma
Credit Karma was one of the first online services to provide your credit ratings free of charge. This service offers scores and reports from two agencies: Equifax and TransUnion (both VantageScore). Scores and reports are updated weekly. Additionally they offer free daily credit monitoring but only for TransUnion.
Credit Karma may be the only service we know of that offers free scores from two different agencies. It also pulls data from Equifax, one of the only services to do this. Additionally, it offers many other useful financial tools for consumers. These include personalized charge card and loan recommendations, financial calculators, informative financial blogs, as well as assist with filing your taxes.
For the entire Credit Karma breakdown, visit our review.
Discover Credit Scorecard
Discover has recently started offering free credit ratings to all consumers, regardless of whether or otherwise you're a Discover customer. Discover is one of the only services to provide a free FICO score; most free credit rating services provide your VantageScore. Discover’s FICO score comes from Equifax, and it’s updated monthly.
Be aware, however, that because FICO offers several scores, the score shown in your Discover Credit Scorecard might not be exactly the same score that your creditors are using. However, it might be worth a look for educational and general credit monitoring purposes.
If you want a deeper dive into Discover’s Credit Scoreboard, browse the full review.
WalletHub
WalletHub provides a free credit score and credit history from TransUnion (VantageScore). This is the only free credit rating service that updates daily.
In accessory for your credit rating, WalletHub offers other useful services to enhance your credit and financials. Customers receive free monitoring of the TransUnion account as well as services for example customized advice to enhance credit, credit card recommendations, and savings alerts.
To get more deets on this site, has done a complete review of WalletHub for your perusing pleasure.
Credit Journey From Chase
Chase offers TransUnion scores and reports via Credit Journey. This service is free and available to all consumers (not only Chase customers). Your score is updated weekly.
Chase also tracks your score over time and has a credit rating simulator that shows how your score might change if you take certain actions.
Learn more about Credit Journey in our full review.
Free Annual Credit Reports
You should know that, legally, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax have to issue a totally free copy of your credit report every 12 months. Consumers who request a free copy of the report will receive a full copy, whereas many free websites only offer a restricted report. You should use your free annual reports to review the data contained in the limited reports and contest any mistakes that you find.
Unfortunately, your annual free credit report does not include any actual credit scores. To gain access to this information, you’ll need to sign up for a totally free credit rating service or pay for your scores.
Annual credit reports could be requested at AnnualCreditReport.com. We’ve gone more in-depth on this service within our help guide to getting your credit report free of charge.
Final Thoughts
Free score services offer only scores derived from one or two agencies and don’t always provide a full credit history. It’s advisable, then, also to request free copies of your credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com each year and contest any mistakes that you have found.
That said, free credit rating services are helpful for educational purposes and general credit monitoring — just remember the specific score shown rarely is in the same score that your creditors see. However, a totally free score service can give you the various tools you need to improve and maintain your credit rating. All the services listed above have the freedom, easy to use, and provide useful services along with your credit score.
Do you have to improve your credit? Read about five ways to improve your score.
