Getting A Free Credit Score

We have already talked about how to receive your 3 free credit reports each year, but you may also want your credit score.

However, when you go online you will find all kinds of people who claim they will give you a free 3 in 1 credit score, but in almost all cases you have to purchase a subscription to a monthly service.

Recently however, I found a couple ways where you can get a good idea of what your credit score is without giving anyone a credit card or having to subscribe to a monthly service.

Credit Karma

Credit Karma is a service that will retrieve your credit score from Transunion ( one of the big 3 credit bureaus ). In order to receive your free credit score you will need to become a member, the membership however is free!

They will never ask you for a credit card, but they will ask for your social security number which they use to request your credit score from Transunion. Their privacy policy states they do not store your social security information. They also ask several security questions the same way they do when you are requesting a credit report.

Once you are done registering it will send you a link to validate your account and then you can login.  It will show your Transunion Credit Score right on the dashboard and will give you a ton of information about your credit situation, how to improve your score and offers that can potentially reduce your interest costs.

Why Is It Free?

This service is as good as ones I've paid $20 monthly membership fees for in the past. It offers a wealth of tools and information.  They are obviously relying on the fact that some people will take advantage of the offers for credit cards and services that appear through out the site.. They are paying to obtain your credit score and in return they will market financial products to you that match your credit score.

Option #2:  No Social Security Number Required!

Some people do not want to subscribe to a service that requires them to enter their social security number.   In this age of identity theft, that is a common concern.   The problem is that without giving your social security number, there is no way to pull your credit report or credit score from a rating agency.  You can however estimate your Fico Score.

Fair Isaac, the developer of the Fico score has developed a service that allows you to answer a series of questions and estimate your score.  This will give you a good idea of where you stand and you will never have to give out a credit card or social security number.

Fico Score Estimator

I chose to join Credit Karma because I found only positive information regarding their services.  Also the benefits received from them are worth the minor risk of giving them the one time use of my social security number.