Consumer Blog
Estimate your credit score for free
When you check your free credit report, which we encourage all consumers to do three times a year, you will not see your credit score. Normally, each of the three credit bureaus charges $6-10 for this.
But you can get a rough estimate of your score using this estimator. Not sure how accurate it is, but it's built by Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO), the biggest player in the credit-scoring business. It's a quick 10-question quiz.
If anyone has done this and compared it to your actual score, I'd be interested in your feedback.
Your credit report is a list of all the accounts you have open or have recently closed. Loans, mortgages, credit cards, etc. Check it to make sure no fraudulent accounts have been opened in your name.
Your credit score is a 3-digit number that tells a potential lender how much of a risk you are. The higher your score, the better, which qualifies you for lower interest rates, bigger loans, a higher credit limit, lower insurance rates, etc.
Technorati Tags: credit, credit rating, credit report, credit score, credit score estimator, moagoconsumer, consumer protection
Posted by on June 18, 2007 9:22 am :: Comments (7) :: Permalink
7 Responses to "Estimate your credit score for free"
says:
June 19, 2007 10:54 am
I think the estimator is a nice tool to get an idea of where you may fall but feel it could give a false sense of security for those that opt to not check their actual score before shopping. I believe the estimator is based on the classic fico score model as well as the fico score you will receive through the myfico service. With that, the estimator states my estimated scores are between 615-665. That's a pretty large gap. A 665 would get me approved for many things that a 615 would not. Now my actual Fico's (www.myfico.com) are 682-711. So for me the estimator underestimated my scores.
says:
June 22, 2007 10:19 pm
I found the credit scores themelves to have a wide gap. 2 of the credit agencies ranked me higher and 1 really low. The estimator had less of a gap than the credit agencies themselves. It was fairly close to my actual + or - 10 points
says:
July 12, 2007 3:07 pm
I thought it was pretty accurate. Of course, I only pay cash for things (except my home loan) so I'm sure my score will go down over the years, which is fine with me because that means I'm not in DEBT!!!!
says:
July 17, 2007 2:31 pm
certain companies who are enlisting fico scores instead of training employees how to read a credit report deserve to be put out of business. I see credit reports daily, and the fico might be 700 + but the fico comments revolve around: too much credit, too little credit, too high of a credit balance, too many late payments (of which none are listed on the report itself?) Please, how about some common sense with this "credit score" rip off. All this is doing is allowing insurance companies, credit companies, loan companies, etc to find an excuse to raise consumer credit rates to above what used to be considered usary. When you can only earn 5% or less on your savings account but the credit card companies can not only charge 22% interest on a good credit score, but in excess of 30% if you are late with one lousy payment not even on their account? We are all being taken for a ride.
says:
February 4, 2008 7:49 am
I found the scores given at freecreditreport.com to be higher that the actual score and very misleading. They were actually 100 points higher! I found this to extremely unethical and misleading. The actual score was not given, even though I paid to get the 3 scores and reports. The scores given were "plus" scores which take into account your income, length of employment, lates, etc. I am trying to get out a debt situation in which we were stuck with two houses. The same bank loaned me money for the second house 2 yrs ago. They were sure the other house would sell. The realtors were sure and so were we! Guess what? It did not! Now, I am trying to recover from the mess and the very banks that created the problems are tightening up so much that it is extremely difficult to get refinanced. The debt to income ratio has been decreased and the loan to value has been decreased and the credit score requirement has been increased. For those of us in "recovery", it will be a rough ride. The banks and their credit cards have been allowed to set their own rules for too long. We have to have regulation on them. I agree that we are indeed being taken for a ride...a very scary one!
says:
March 3, 2009 12:19 pm
FICO is a bogus model. It does not take into account earnings. What is ridiculous is that people on welfare can obtain credit cards. There are several people I know that have upwards of $25,000 in credit card limits with little or no income. Asenine.
says:
March 19, 2009 10:24 pm
Umm,I have a 400 credit score. I don't know why. I have a car that I pay for on time in fact two cars. I paid Nissan 25,000 on a car that was a total loss,and my score is terrible. I have a credit card I pay for that as well. Just one collection and its for 200 dollars and it has been three years since it happened. I pay my 500 dollar car note for 12 months straight no late payments and my 300 dollar car note still a bad credit score. Sad isn't it.
