How to Check Your Credit Score: 4 Options

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Your credit score can be different depending on where you check. There are a few reasons your credit score can vary; learn why and where to check it.

4 places to check your credit score

Here are a few spots you can check your FICO or VantageScore:

1. Right to the source. You can head right to MyFICO.com and request a free FICO credit score from your Equifax report, and get free report updates every month. You can also head to VantageCcore.com, and browse its list of providers that can offer a free VantageScore report.
2. Free credit score apps. Apps like Credit Karma offer free credit reports from bureaus like Experian and TransUnion. Credit Karma can show your VantageScore, and places like CreditWise through Capital One can show your FICO score.
3. Credit and loan issuers. Both credit card companies and personal loan lenders can offer credit scores, but whether its FICO or VantageScore varies on the provider.
4. Consumer credit bureaus. Reach out to Equifax, TransUnion or Experian directly to see your credit score from the bureau itself.

What’s an educational score?

Most free credit score apps or services provide educational credit scores, which might be different from an official credit score from the actual credit scoring models themselves.

Educational scores are a good way to help you get an idea of your credit score so you can work to build and improve it. It can also help you detect possible fraudulent activities on one of your credit accounts.

Your official credit score comes from one of the three major credit bureaus. A lender will look at a score from one of these three bureaus to determine your creditworthiness.

How often can you check your credit score?

You can check your credit score as often as you like. It is your protected right to view your credit reports and credit score.

Doing so will not have an adverse effect on your credit score, since it’s considered a soft inquiry. Also, your requests for your own credit reports and score will not be available to anyone except you.

Why should I check my credit score and reports?

There are a handful of reasons you’ll want to check your credit score regularly:

• A missed payment. We’re all busy, and sometimes we miss an important loan or credit card payment. If this happens, your credit score may drop.
• Identity theft. If someone has stolen your identity, they may be using your financial information to make purchases. If this happens, contact your credit card company or bank to put a hold on your credit and debit cards immediately. You’ll also want to file a report with the local authorities and dispute with the credit bureaus to let them know what happened.
• Inaccuracies in reports. It’s possible that your credit report might have been wrongfully penalized for something. In this case, you want to dispute inaccuracies with each of the three credit bureaus that have issued a report with the mistake.
• Remove wrongful penalties related to collections. If you have some debts that have gone into collections, they’ll likely show up on your credit report. However, effective July 1, 2022, paid medical debt is no longer included on credit reports, and medical debt under $500 can not impact your credit reports/scores.

Must read: How to Build Your Credit

How to understand your credit score

The main credit scoring models are FICO and VantageScore.

While FICO and VantageScore group their credit scores differently, they both use a credit score range from 300 to 850. A good credit score is closer to 850, while a bad score is closer to 300. Here’s how FICO groups credit scores:

Score	Rating
Poor	300–579
Fair	580–669
Good	670–739
Very Good	740–799
Excellent	800+

Dive deeper: 10 Credit Score Myths Debunked

Which credit score do lenders check?

Although both FICO and VantageScore are used, FICO is the most popular credit score that lenders use to determine your creditworthiness. FICO is used by around 80% of lenders, and it is also much older than VantageScore.

Bottom line

Even if you make your credit card and loan payments each month, you should check your credit score regularly. Checking your score and learning how to read credit reports can help to keep you creditworthy in the eyes of lenders and help you spot potential inaccuracies.