A FICO score is a three digit number that is anywhere between 300 and 850 which was originally developed to determine an individuals credit worthiness (whether or not they should be approved for a loan). It’s since been used for anything from leasing applications to job applications.
Under US law each individual is entitled to one copy of their credit report from each of the credit bureaus every 12 months (read our guide on getting your free credit report), unfortunately this credit report does not contain any type of credit score which means that these bureaus are able to charge for these scores.
Every individual actually has three FICO scores, one for each credit bureau which is based on the data that’s found in your credit report from that bureau. When getting your FICO score it’s important to get all three scores to make sure there is not any big inaccuracies as these could hurt you getting your loans approved.
How To Get A Free FICO Score
Trying to find a place to get a free FICO score is like trying to navigate a mine field, lots of companies seem to offer free FICO credit scores the problem is that there is almost always some type of catch. The most common type of catch is to offer free fico scores for signing up to a credit monitoring program. The problem with this is that if you don’t cancel your account within the free trial period your credit card will be automatically billed.
These companies rely on you either forgetting to cancel your free trial or making it extremely difficult to cancel the free trial within the time period specified. To help you out we’ve compiled a handy chart below with the best free FICO score offers, pay particular attention to the free trial periods to ensure you cancel within the specified time (in less you’d like to keep the credit monitoring services).
| Name |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Our Rating |  |
 |
| Credit Scores You’ll Receive | Experian, Equifax & Transunion | Experian Plus Score |
| Trial Period | Free 7 Day Trial Period | Free 7 Day Trial Period |
| Bottom Line | Unlimited access to all three of your scores, along unlimited access to your credit reports | Experian score plus enrolment in their credit monitoring program |
| Visit Site | Visit Site |
Getting Your Free FICO Score Does NOT Lower Your Score
Checking your FICO score will not lower your score. You’ve probably read that credit enquiries (especially a lot in a short space of time) will negatively impact your credit score. This only true for hard inquiries, it’s only considered a hard inquiry when the inquiry is used to make a lending decision.
Checking your own FICO is considered a soft inquiry and as such won’t affect your credit score or appear on your credit report.
More Information On Free FICO Credit Scores
Free FICO Credit Score Through CreditReport.Com
Creditreport.com is by far the best credit monitoring program and the easiest way to get a legitimately free FICO credit score. If you sign up for their credit monitoring program you will receive your FICO score from all three of the credit agencies, you’ll also receive all three of your credit reports. Most of the other credit monitoring companies only offer your score from ONE of the agencies.
By getting your report from all three agencies you are able to make sure that there are no large discrepancies, if you do see a large discrepancy this is most likely because there is incorrect or incomplete information with one of the bureaus. In which case you’ll need to go through each report and dispute any inaccuracies.
Creditreport.com gives you seven days to cancel your subscription to their service, if you don’t subscribe within that time then you will be charged $19.95 per month to stay enrolled in their program. You can cancel easily and at anytime by calling -
>>> Click To Get Your Free FICO Scores From Creditreport.com NOW <<<
Through Freecreditscore.com
Getting your score through freecreditscore.com is our second choice when it comes to FICO scores, this is largely because they only offer an Experian credit score. By signing up to their Triple Advantage Credit Monitoring you’ll get your experian credit report along with your experian FICO score.
You get the first seven days for free and after that you’ll be charged $14.95 per month until you cancel.
Their triple advantage credit monitoring program will also alert you to any changes which are made to your credit report – which will give you a good idea of what your FICO scores should be with the other bureaus.
Freecreditscore is owned and operated by Experian.
>>> Click To Get Your Free FICO Scores From Freecreditscore NOW <<<
What’s So Important About Your FICO Score Anyway?
Your FICO score is so important because there is a link between a persons FICO score and delinquency rates (somebody becomes delinquent when they have a payment which is 90 days past due). In the table people you can see FICO score ranges and the delinquency rates for those scores:
| Score | Percentage Of Population | Delinquency Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 300-499 | 1 | 87% |
| 500-549 | 5 | 71% |
| 550-599 | 7 | 51% |
| 600-649 | 11 | 31% |
| 650-699 | 16 | 15% |
| 700-749 | 20 | 5% |
| 750-799 | 29 | 2% |
| 800 or higher | 11 | 1% |
As you can see, the higher your score the less likely you are to become delinquent. Lenders know this information so this is why you’ll most likely rejected for a loan if you don’t have a score of above 700, you’ll also not be offered the best rate of interest unless your score is above 720 (although some lenders actually make this best interest rate at a score of 76o or above).
Now that we why lenders are so fixated on FICO scores we can look at how much you’ll save over the life of your mortgage if you have a good FICO score. In the below chart we are assuming a 30 year fixed mortgage for $350,000, the best APR (annual percentage rate) in the market place is 3.716%.
| FICO Score Range | APR | Monthly Payment | Total Interest Paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 760-850 | 3.716% | $1,614.16 | $231,097.41 |
| 700-719 | 3.938% (+.222%) | $1,279 0.222 | $247,047.43 |
| 675-699 | 4.115% (+.399%) | $1,305 0.399 | $259,927.11 |
| 620-674 | 4.329% (+0.613%) | $1,338 0.613 | $275,683.79 |
| 560-619 | 4.759% (+1.043%) | $1,404 1.043 | $307,961.78 |
| 500-619 | 5.305% (+1.589%) | $1,491 2.233 | $350,077.03 |
As seen in the above table, even tiny changes in the rate of interest can add up very quickly costing you money. Somebody with a socre of 700-719 is likely to pay an additional $15950.32 than somebody with a score of above 760. Somebody with a score of 619 or below will struggle to get a loan at all, but if they do they will pay a $118,979.62 premium. This is why it’s so important to check your credit score before applying for a loan.
Improving Your FICO Score
Improving your score is something known as credit repair, depending on why you have a low score to begin with this repair can either be extremely easy or incredibly difficult. The first thing you’ll want to do is get a copy of all three of your credit reports, along with a score from each of the bureaus providing the reports. Then you have two options; the DIY option or going with a professional. We suggest going with a firm called lexingtonlaw, they have direct connections with two of the three credit bureaus and successfully get over 1.2million false items removed from credit reports each year. You can contact lexington law on 1-855-255-0044 or via their website by clicking here. If you do it yourself, you’ll need to go through each report and then dispute any inaccuracies.
>>> Click To Get Your Free FICO Scores From Creditreport.com NOW <<<