If you want to view your FICO score that would be used by actual lenders, you will need to do one of two things:
Go to MyFICO.com and sign up for the $20 to $40 monthly subscriptions or apply for a loan and ask the lender to share your score with you.
Otherwise, there are likely more than 100 free options to get a credit score, whether a FICO or a VantageScore. View our 17-minute Money Fit LIVE webinar below. It lists dozens of places you can get your free credit score as well as noting the type of credit score (FICO vs. VantageScore). You can even earn a separate certificate at www.moneyfit.org/live. A few places to get your free credit score include those listed here:
- bankruptcy.com
- creditkarma.com
- creditsesame.com
- creditwise.com
- mint.com
- nerdwallet.com
- wallethub.com
- Many credit card companies and banks
Accessing your own credit score with these options will not hurt your credit and can be used to monitor activities on your accounts. For example, if you notice an unexpected sudden drop in your credit score, regardless of which version you are using, it might be a sign of fraud or identity theft you need to look into.
Most, but not all, of these services have their own apps, but all can be accessed online. You can use one or all of them. It’s up to you.
Now that we’ve learned about what good and bad credit is and how to access your scores, let’s look next at some of the events that negatively affect your credit, followed by things you can do to improve your score.
