Your credit score is possibly the most important number in your financial profile.
Many websites offer free credit scores. But Consumer Reports said they might come with strings attached and may not be that helpful if you want to find out how your credit score measures up.
Credit Sesame, Credit.com, Quizzle.com and Credit Karma are just a few of the many websites that promise you a free credit score.
But be aware the score you get may not be the same that score lenders use to determine your creditworthiness.
There are hundreds of different ways to score the same credit information. So theres no guarantee that a lender you approach will use the same score that you got online, said Tobie Stanger of Consumer Reports.
Many of the sites like freecreditscore.com and Free Score Online will start charging a monthly fee after a brief trial period.
But Consumer Reports said theres a program using FICO scores that could help some of you get more accurate and truly free scores. FICO is the most widely used system among lenders.
Under the FICO Score Open Access Program, a number of big lenders are now providing free FICO scores. These free scores are the ones the lender will really use to judge your credit risk, Stanger said.
Some of the big national lenders who participate are Chase Bank, Citibank, BarclayCard, Discover and Ally Financial. The list is growing.
There are limitations to the FICO program. You have to be a customer of the lender and you may have to have a certain type of account with them, usually a credit card, Stanger said.
Keep in mind that your credit score is based on your detailed credit report. You need to check that regularly, too.
There is only one site Consumer Reports recommends to get your free credit report: annualcreditreport.com.
Through that site youll get your credit report free every year from Transunion, Experian, and Equifax.
All Consumer Reports Material Copyright 2014. Consumers Union of US Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Consumer Reports is a not for profit organization which accepts no advertising. It has no commercial relationship with any advertiser or sponsor on this site. For more information visit consumer.org
