Your credit score is a score between 300 and 850 which is calculated based on information in your credit reports. It’s kind of like a report card that potential lenders use to check whether you would be considered a risky borrower. If you don’t have a good credit score, some lenders won’t loan to you at all, while others may be willing to loan you money at a high-interest rate. Since your credit score is so important to credit approval decisions, you should have an idea of what your credit scores are. Wondering where to get free credit scores? Read on to find out.
What Does Your Credit Score Mean?
Knowing your credit score only helps you if you understand what that three-digit number is telling people you’re hoping to borrow money from. It’s calculated based on a combination of factors in your credit report, such as payment history, total amount owed, credit mix, length of your credit history, and how many credit inquiries were done recently.
While opinions on what’s a good credit score can vary from one creditor to another, the higher your credit score is, the better. Most lenders consider scores over 670 to be good scores.
Finding Out Your Credit Score
You don’t have just one credit score. Each of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) has slightly different information about your borrowing history. Different scoring models are used to calculate your credit score. The most well-known scoring models are FICO and Vantage.
You can obtain a copy of your credit reports annually from AnnualCreditReport.com, but your credit report doesn’t usually include your credit score. How can you find out your credit score? There are several websites that offer free credit monitoring services. On these sites, your score may be updated weekly or monthly. Examples include Credit Karma, Credit.com, and Credit Sesame. It won’t hurt your credit if you are checking your own credit score.
Some credit card companies provide your credit score on your monthly billing statement. This is a service to customers, and if your credit company does this, you can easily see whether your score is trending up or down.
Why Should You Watch Your Credit Score?
Being aware of fluctuations in your score can make you aware of changes to your credit report. While your score can vary slightly from month to month, a sudden dip in your credit score could mean a variety of things. For example, it could mean you forgot to pay a bill or that you closed a credit line, which reduces your available credit and raises the percent of available credit that you’re using.
A drop in your score could also mean that there’s been an error in the information reported to the credit bureau. Accounts showing past due that you’ve paid or accounts reporting the wrong balance can make it appear like you’re not doing a good job taking care of your borrowed money. Any errors you find on your credit report should be disputed immediately. To fix errors on your report, make it easy on yourself by using Dovly’s AI credit engine, which can help you track, manage and fix errors on your credit report. Try it risk-free with our free membership tier.
