How to get your credit score

How to go your credit score

Man holding tablet on which a credit score is displayed.

(Image credit: Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock)

Your credit score tells creditors and lenders how probable you are to pay your bills and cover your debts on fourth dimension and in full. The lower your score, the higher the risk they accept on you, and the harder it is to get approved for a new credit card, mortgage or car loan.

Credit scores autumn on a scale from 300 to 850. While each financial establishment determines what constitutes good or bad credit for their products, a score in the mid-700s or higher will generally give y'all more options.

There are several important facts about your credit score yous need to know:

Your credit score is a reflection of your gamble at a unmarried point in time. Scores modify frequently as your credit balance, your payment history and other factors that make upwardly your score change. This is why it's helpful to bank check your score on a regular basis.

Y'all have more than than one credit score. Scores may vary depending on which credit-reporting bureau — Experian, Equifax or TransUnion — provides the data. Similarly, at that place are several scoring models, or formulas, used to summate scores, with the most common being FICO viii, followed past VantageScore three.0. Credit bureaus sometimes have their own "educational" scores. The numbers may be similar, but there could also exist a x-plus point gap.

Different lenders may apply unlike scores. Because yous have a handful of credit scores at any point in time, y'all may not know the exact number your lender sees. As Michelle Petrowski, an Arizona-based certified fiscal planner with Beingness in Abundance explains, credit-card companies commonly rely on FICO 8 using data from all 3 credit bureaus, but banks expect at other versions of FICO when approving mortgages.

Here'due south how to get your credit score.

How to get your credit score for free

If you have a credit card or auto loan, you may be able to become your credit score — updated monthly — from your lender at no cost and with no catch by logging into your online account or viewing your statement.

You'll also generally see data about credit balances and other factors that impact your score, similar to what's provided in a complete credit report.

"If it'south free, why not check it monthly to stay on acme of your progress," says Petrowski.

Notation that the score provided by a creditor or lender may not be a FICO 8 score. Both Chase and American Limited, for instance, offering VantageScore 3.0 scores based on Experian and TransUnion data, respectively.

In that location are two other ways to get your credit score for free. One is to piece of work with a non-profit credit counselor or a housing advisor, both of whom may be able to pull a costless credit score every bit role of their budget-counseling or debt-direction services.

Finally, there are a handful of credit-score services that offering score reports for free — sort of. Credit Karma remains gratuitous for consumers considering it relies on targeted advertising using your credit data. Scores from Credit Karma utilize TransUnion and Equifax data.

NerdWallet is likewise funded by advertising and offers VantageScore three.0 scores from TransUnion. Experian provides FICO eight scores directly at no cost in exchange for your consent to receive production, service and credit offers.

Credit Sesame, meanwhile, provides scores based on TransUnion data for its free customers, while paid subscribers go scores from all three bureaus updated monthly.

Earlier you sign up for a "free" credit score, check whether you are required to provide a credit-bill of fare number. Some services may have "costless" trials merely volition charge your carte at a later on date if you forget to cancel.

Paid alternatives for requesting your credit score

Ane final option for seeing your credit score is to buy information technology directly from credit-reporting bureaus. Yous can sign up for a quondam study from one bureau ($19.95) or all three ($59.85) at myFICO.com, or you can subscribe to identity theft protection plans that may include your credit reports, credit scores and and credit-monitoring services.

How is my credit score calculated?

Your credit score incorporates a handful of factors from your financial past and present:

Payment history: On-time, belatedly and missed payments
Credit balance and utilization: What percentage of available credit you're using and how much y'all owe
Credit historic period: How long your accounts accept been open
Credit inquiries: Recent applications for new credit
Credit types: The blend of credit cards and loans
Negative marks: Any history of collections, foreclosures or bankruptcies

Again, the various scoring models may counterbalance each factor differently, which is why not all scores are equal. Plus, your credit reports — where some of the data for your score comes from — may not exist identical across the three credit bureaus. The exact formula for credit-score calculations is a well-kept underground.

Bottom line

Your credit score provides a quick wait at your creditworthiness to help lenders decide whether yous are worth the take a chance. You can get credit scores for free from your credit-menu or loan company, although this is merely one variation of your score at one signal in time.

To go a better picture of fluctuations — especially if yous've missed a payment, made a big purchase on credit or opened a new account — consider requesting your credit score frequently and from several sources.

Emily Long is a Utah-based freelance writer who covers consumer technology, privacy and personal finance for Tom'southward Guide. She has been reporting and writing for nearly 10 years, and her work has appeared in Wirecutter, Lifehacker, NBC BETTER and CN Traveler, among others. When she's not working, you tin find her trail running, pedagogy and practicing yoga, or studying for grad school — all fueled by coffee, obviously.