Knowing your credit score and your credit rating is very important. Your credit score helps you with borrowing money, getting insurance and even renting an apartment. Check your credit score now so you don’t scramble at the last minute. You may need to bring up your credit rating before a big financial transaction or it can even help you find potential identity theft issues. We break down the top websites where you can check your credit score for free. Many of them offer additional helpful free tools to keep an eye on your credit score and even help improve your credit rating and financial situation!
Credit Rating’s Top 7 Websites to Check Your Credit Score
1. AnnualCreditReport.com
The big three credit bureaus, Experian, Transunion, and Equifax, allow you to check your credit score for free once per year. If you head on over to AnnualCreditReport.com and fill out their very short form, you will be able to get your credit report sent to you via email. There is also a 1-800 number to call if you prefer.
AnnualCreditReport.com: The free credit score check from the “big three” credit bureaus which offers all three reports free once per year.
2. Bankrate.com
Bankrate recently bought out Quizzle which had been in business offering free credit scores for many years. Bankrate takes over where Quizzle left off. They too offer a free credit score check where you can see your TransUnion VantageScore 3.0 once per week. Plus they offer free credit alerts on your report if anything changes. They will also give you an account analysis and how factors are changing your credit score and how to manage your payments and accounts better to get or keep a great credit score.
Bankrate: Allows you to check your TransUnion credit score once per week. The uncomplicated design and interface makes it a good site looking for just the basics of checking your credit score for free.
3. Credit Karma
Credit Karma offers you both TransUnion and Equifax reports- both for free – and updates your credit score weekly. They will also notate factors that you have made that affect your credit score. This way you will learn what really makes big changes to your credit score. Understanding this will help get and keep your score higher.
Keep in mind like many other websites that give your credit score for free, Credit Karma makes money from offering you loans and credit cards which you could apply for based on your credit score. So bascially, you will see offers for credit cards and loans based on your credit score. You are not obligated to apply or use the credit cards or loans they offer if you not in the market for one though.
Credit Karma: You can dispute items that don’t belong on your report directly. Another cool feature is their Credit Score Simulator. You can see how your credit score is affected if you close an account or change your financial habits before you actually do it.
4. Mint
At its core Mint is an online budgeting app. It syncs bank accounts, credit cards, investments and more to keep you on target. They also offer free credit score with automatic alerts if something has changed to your credit. In addition, Mint is owned by Intuit, the same guys that do Turbo Tax and Quicken. They can also pull in tax information as well so you can get a very solid picture of your credit and a health check on your finances. On your dashboard when you log in you will see the age of credit, total accounts, number of inquiries, derogatory items, and on-time payment history. The information comes from the credit bureau Equifax and can be updated every three months.
Mint: In addition to being able to get your credit score for free you, it’s a great site to help you with your financial budget.
5. Credit Sesame
With Credit Sesame in addition to offering your free credit score, it also offers a free credit report card and free credit monitoring. You will also be offered easy to get loans and credit cards based on your credit score and credit history. The most enticing feature of Credit Sesame is that they offer free credit monitoring and ID protection.
Credit Sesame: Offers free credit monitoring and free ID protection.
6. Wallet Hub
Wallet Hub has some pretty great user reviews and many happy customers. The service does not require a credit card and is completely free. You simply create an account to find out what your credit score is and your Vantage 3.0 number based on your TransUnion information. The main thing that differentiates Wallet Hub from the other free credit score sites is that they offer a lot of references to learn how to make your credit score better. The service also offers a real breadth of references for all aspects of personal finance as well.
Wallet Hub is great for their in-depth guidance and references for learning about how to increase your credit score.
7. CreditWorks Basic by Experian
As you know you can request your credit report once per year from the big three credit bureaus. With CreditWorks, the basic plan will get you an updated credit score from Experian once per month. The reason why we like this one is that most of the other free credit score sites offer your VantageScore but CreditWorks will actually give you your FICO score which is the credit rating lenders typically use. If you upgrade you can get an updated score daily.
CreditWorks Basic is one of the few free monitoring sites that offer your FICO Score.
Conclusion:
Finding out your credit score is the first step in taking control of your financial freedom. Using one of the many free credit score websites and apps out there can be beneficial if you don’t mind getting and viewing offers from lenders and credit cards. Check your credit score now so you know if you have to work on increasing your credit score. It pays to know where you stand, plus your mind will be at ease going into your next big financial transaction.