FICO Credit Score

[bhadpott]

I've heard that we can get free credit report once in 1 months. Is there something like only onetime in 12 months that I can check free credit score? Where can I get free FICO credit score without affecting my credit rating.. Any idea suggestions will be highly appreciated.. Thanx in advance By the way Happy New year to alll!!!!!!

[The Honest Dollar]

Originally Posted by bhadpott

I've heard that we can get free credit report once in 1 months.

You can't get free credit reports once every month. This is a service you usually need to pay for.

Originally Posted by bhadpott

Is there something like only onetime in 12 months that I can check free credit score?

You can request a free credit report from each of the 3 major reporting companies once a year at annualcreditreport.com. Make sure you go to ANNUAL, not FREEcreditreport.com, since the latter is actually only for one of the 3 major reporting companies and will ask you to put in your credit card info for a for-fee credit monitoring service.

Since you don't have to get all 3 credit reports at the same time, many people I know (myself included) spread out our requests for each reporting company. For example, you can ask for the TransUnion report in January, the Experian report in May, and the Equifax report in September. Then next year get TransUnion in January (since a year has passed), Experian in May, and Equifax in September again. This way you can check your credit report every 4 months without paying a penny.

Originally Posted by bhadpott

Where can I get free FICO credit score without affecting my credit rating.

YOU can always get a FICO score without affecting your credit rating. The reporting companies only count hard pulls by entities other than you against you.

However, you will not be able to get your FICO score with the free reports. Those reports only list the number of accounts you have, whether you have any accounts in bad standing, etc. It will give you a general sense of how you're doing but not your FICO score. This is a service you will almost always have to pay for. I think it's around $15 for each, but this may vary. It's probably a good idea to go directly to the reporting agencies rather than using any of the "get your credit score" ads around the Internet, since these ads aren't always legit and may make you pay for something that isn't even your real credit score.

If you are planning to apply for a loan, then it might make sense to pay for all 3 at once, since you don't necessarily know which report the bank (or lending agent) will pull. But if you just want to know your FICO score for your own purposes, you only need to pay for 1, since they're all pretty much the same. One caveat is that the companies have different scales, but when you get your number, it should come with an explanation of where it falls on the scale.

Some credit cards offer free or for-fee monthly updates on your FICO score. Up to you if this is a route to consider.

[bhadpott]

Thanx for quick response from Honest $... I found your answer really useful..

[Will]

That's an excellent answer Honest Dollar.

It is very useful. I'm going to move this to the personal finance section where more people can benefit from it.