The three major services that provide credit reporting data are Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. Each of these companies provides a variation of the FICO score, using the formula created by the Fair Isaac Corp. It is possible to order your credit report from each of these companies for a small fee. It is also possible to use various credit- and identity-monitoring services, which will provide you with a credit score on a weekly or monthly basis. Finally, you are entitled to see your credit report from each company for free one time annually. However, this free annual credit report does not show your credit score; it only shows your credit report or record.
Equifax
Equifax offers a service called Score Watch, which allows you to monitor your credit score on a monthly basis for a monthly cost. This monthly subscription fee includes access to two FICO scores, explanations of the score(s), and monitoring and alerts when something changes on your Equifax reports. It also offers several other products designed to help you monitor your credit score, including a "3 in one" score report, which gives you access to your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus, along with your credit score. There is a fee for this report as well.
TransUnion
TransUnion is another major credit bureau. Like Equifax, it offers a monthly monitoring service that entitles you to see your credit score and report on a monthly basis. After a one-month free trial of the service, the TransUnion service also charges a monthly fee.
Experian
Experian is the third major credit bureau that calculates a credit score. It offers free access to your credit report and score for joining a program called Triple Advantage. If you fail to cancel Triple Advantage during the seven-day trial period provided that entitles you to your free score, you will be charged a monthly fee. This membership allows you access to your three major reports and credit scores.
Free Annual Credit Report
Each person is entitled to see his credit report from each of the major credit bureaus once annually. In order to get access to these free reports, you need to visit www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp.
The website is the only legitimate place to get these three reports for free. Many companies have names or websites similar in name to "free annual credit report," but these websites actually enroll you in various identity-monitoring programs.
These three free reports do NOT include a score; they just include your report. You can order your score when you download your free report, but there is a cost associated with this service.
Other Sources for Credit Scores
Many banks and credit card companies offer their own identity-monitoring programs that provide you with access to your credit score or scores from the three major bureaus. Like the offers from the credit bureaus themselves, you pay a monthly subscription fee for these services.
There are few, if any, places online where you can get a credit score for free. One possibility for free credit scores is a website called Credit Karma. This site offers a credit score for free for providing basic information. However, this score may be an estimation of your actual credit score and may not match exactly the credit score from the three credit bureaus.
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