How To Check Your Credit Score
it is important to know your credit score because it is used
by more and more companies, including credit card issuers,
auto lenders and, now, insurers.
How Can I Get Your FICO Score?
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It’s easy to check your own FICO score and
find out specific steps you can take to improve it.
To start, you can order your FICO score through online
services developed by Fair Isaac, in partnership with
credit reporting agencies.
You can access credit scores from all three bureaus
at myFICO.com, which is run by Fair Isaac. You'll get
an explanation of how your score is likely to affect
your credit, information about what is helping and hurting
your score and a snapshot of your credit history.
Mortgage lenders look at more than one score. Since
the three credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion
-- often contain different information on your credit
history, your credit score may vary among them. For
example, your FICO® score based on say your Equifax
credit report may vary by 60 points or more from your
FICO® score using your Experian credit report. To
control for this variability, lenders often use the
middle of the three bureau scores when making decisions,
especially for mortgage lending. |
You can
order your FICO Score from the following services:
You may get a different score than one pulled by a lender
because the information in your credit file is constantly
changing, which means your score can change as well. The score
you get this week may not be the same score a lender would
get from the credit reporting company the next week.
What are included in your credit score?
- Instant access to your FICO® credit score and credit
report online
- An explanation of your score to help you understand how
lenders view your credit history
- Interactive Score Simulator to show you how your actions
may change your score
- Specific tips on how to manage your score and a comparison
of your score to the national average
- Helpful links between your score and your report to give
you a clearer understanding of both
- Access this snapshot of your score and report for 30
days, this report does not update
- Access to Customer Care, available 7 days a week
Credit scores from thee major credit bureaus
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