Last week we compared freecreditreport.com to annualcreditreport.com. While the names can be deceiving, the place you want to go for a free credit report is annualcreditreport.com. But the one very important piece of information you won't get there is your FICO credit score. And it's a question heard a lot: "How do I get my credit score for free?" Fortunately, you can get your credit score for nothing. To get your free FICO score, myFICO.com is the place to go.
The FICO score was created by the Fair Issac Corporation, and they are the folks that run myFICO.com. In fact, myFICO.com is the only place you can go to get your official credit score. And so that's what I've done. As part of this review of myFICO.com, I signed up for the free trial, and will show you some screen shots from my actual FICO score and credit report. So let's get started.
How to Get Your Free FICO Credit Score
myFICO.com gives you your official FICO credit score as reported by Equifax when you sign up for a free 30-day trial of Score Watch (more about Score Watch in a moment). The sign up process is very quick and easy. You will have to provide your name, address, date of birth, and social security number so that myFICO.com can pull your credit report and credit score. You'll also have to provide a credit card. You won't be billed unless you decide to keep the Score Watch past the 30-day free trial.
As part of the application process, myFICO.com will ask you a question from your credit report to make sure they are not giving your credit information to somebody else. In my case, they asked me about a mortgage I have on one of my rental properties. After I answered the questions, myFICO.com gave me immediate access to my FICO credit score and credit report. Let's take a look at each.
FICO Credit Score from myFICO.com
My FICO credit score as reported by Equifax is 745. One of the things I really like about myFICO.com, however, is that it doesn't just give you your score. myFICO.com also explains why your score is what it is (good or bad). This information can help you start the process of improving your score.
In my case, my score is above average because of my long credit history (which just means I'm old!), on time payments, and low credit usage. My credit score would be higher except that I have a lot of debt and have had several inquiries on my credit in the past year. Both of these factors are the result of 5 mortgages on rental properties, so I'm not too concerned with them.
myFICO.com will give you more information about each factor that is either helping or hurting your credit score. You also receive tips on how to improve those factors that may be keeping your FICO score down. As I mentioned above, for my score past inquires and amount of debt/opened accounts have hurt my score. Both of these were identified by myFICO.com, which gives me a clear indication of what I need to work on if I want to improve my credit score. Another great feature of myFICO.com is that they tell you how your credit score will impact the interest rates you'll receive on a mortgage, home equity, or car loan. Here's what it shows for my credit score of 745: 
This information can be really useful if you are looking to buy or refinance a home, or perhaps get a car loan. In my case, if I were looking to buy a home, I would wet 760 as my credit score goal. In fact, with Credit Watch, you can set a goal, and myFICO.com will alert you every time there is a change to your credit score. So now that you know your credit score, know what's helping and hurting your score, know how to improve your score, and know what impact your score will have on interest rates, it's time to look at your credit report.
Equifax Credit Report from myFICO.com
With myFICO.com, you not only get your credit score, you also get your credit report. Of course, you can get your free credit report from annualcreditreport.com, too. If it's just your credit report you're after, that's the place to go. But it's still nice to get your credit report along with your credit score at myFICO.com. What's particularly nice about myFICO.com is that it presents your credit report in an easy to read and understand format. myFICO.com breaks down your credit report into five separate screens that cover the following five topics: (1) Credit at a Glance; (2) Accounts; (3) Inquiries; (4) Collections; and (5) Public Records. 
The Credit-at-a-Glance feature gives you a snapshot of your credit report. In addition to showing you any missed payments and length of credit history, it also shows your total debt, number of accounts opened, recent inquiries, and more. You then can easily move from page to page to see everything in your credit report. When reviewing your report, it is important to carefully review the accounts section. This will show you if there are accounts opened that you don't know about. It will also show you if any creditors have reported missed or late payments. If you think there is an error in your credit report, myFICO.com offers form letters you can use to dispute information in your report.
30-Day Free Trial of Score Watch
As I mentioned at the start, myFICO.com gives you your free FICO credit score and credit report from Equifax when you sign-up for a free 30-day trial of Score Watch. The Score Watch program monitors important changes to your Equifax credit file and FICO Score. There is a free 30 day Score Watch trial which gives you two Equifax FICO scores and two credit reports each year you are a subscriber. You also get two types of alerts: one indicating when information on your credit report changes and one when your FICO Score changes. Score Watch also gives you the option to sign up to be notified when you might qualify for a better rate on a home or auto loan. The first 30 days of Score Watch are free. If you decide to to stay in the program, the cost is $89.95 a year. A week before you free 30-day trial is up, myFICO.com will send you an email notifying you that you credit card will be charged unless you cancel Score Watch. Here are the details from the sign-up screen:
About your FREE 30-Day Trial: A week before your 30-day trial expires, we will contact you by email to notify you of the upcoming conversion of your trial to an annual subscription. If you do not cancel prior to the end of the 30-day trial, you will be billed at the annual subscription rate of $89.95 when the 30-day trial expires.
At this point, I haven't decided whether to keep the Score Watch program and pay the annual fee, although I'm inclined to do so. If you decided to cancel your free 30-day trial before you get charged, however, it's easy to do. Simply click on the "Support" tab at the top right of the main myFICO.com screen. This will take you to a list of help topics, the first of which provides the simple steps to take to cancel your subscription. Unlike freecreditreports.com, you can cancel Score Watch online; you don't need to call anybody at myFICO.com.
Next Steps
Having spent a lot of time at myFICO.com, I can say it is very easy to use and understand. The information is clear, and myFICO.com provides helpful information on understanding your credit score and credit report, and how to improve both. If you'd like to give it a try, you can do so by visiting www.myfico.com.
{ 10 comments }
I didn’t realize that they would alert you when your credit moved to a certain score. That’s a pretty nice feature.
all three credit bureaus the only thing they do it’s crew-up or ruin your credit history and bias for lender…one hand took your credit protection other hand ruin your credit history…in facts they said no discrimination on race or color..but it’s lied…i’m a victimize of this sampled !!!!! all equifax,experian,transunion gotten questions go tracing Me now
I always had a good credit , 2 years ago a heatstroke knocked me out for two months I lose my job and struggeled to make payments on time . with this stupid thing of score the bank cut my credit .overnight and there I was bankrupcy was the sole way out. This score thing should be banned it is inacurate 80 % the time it is a bankers invention to charge more interest and loot your money the fed say the interest rate is so and so % but if your score is
you pay more and more and more. and this administration did the ultimate….l
say lend but it is in fact give away our money to this croocks.unbelievable.
I use freecreditreport.com because I get all three credit scores and all three credit reports. I pull my credit this way every three to four months for a flat fee. I recomend a quarterly exploration of your personal credit, thus more time to address any negative issues on your report.
I was only able to get a score from Experian – myFICO.com can’t give me a score saying I don’t have enough information on file. I haven’t had a mortgage, car payment, or credit card for several years, and my FICO.com can’t help me figure out where I stand. No help at all to determine if I can get a mortgage or car loan. At least annualcreditreport.com got me a credit report and some kind of score to work with.
MK, I suspect the score Experian gave you was not a FICO credit score. If you have little recent credit history, there just isn’t enough data to input into the FICO score formula to compute a score.
Lots of people do not avail the facility to get a free copy of their credit report each year. They can get this from all three major credit bureaus.
Gordan, you are absolutely right, and folks should get the free credit report each year to make sure it’s accurate. Of course, the only way to get your free FICO score is through a program like myfico.com.
In Canada you can go to equifax and to trans unions websites and order your scores that way. I prefer avoiding third party ‘fees’ and just going to the source.
All my bills have been paid off and only one – TransUnion, will NOT delete it from my record even though the creditor has said that it could be deleted and gave me a letter stating it was paid in full. It doesn’t seem fair that a credit bureau can keep poor info on one’s credit for a full 7 years! Now I am having trouble getting a mortgage loan just because of that – have no other bills or mortgage – just trying to get a first time buyer mortgage. It doesn’t seem fair and I am extremely disappointed in TransUnion. Equifax and Esperian have my credit score as being very good.but TransUnion is ruining it all.
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