How to Get Free Credit Score (No Credit Card Needed)

By Pinyo, on March 24, 2013

Do you want to know your credit score but are not sure where to look? This article will walk you through the three main ways you can check your scores for FREE. It will also touch on why you cannot get free scores from AnnualCreditReport.com (you can only get free credit reports) and explain the different types of scores. Whether you plan to borrow money or not, your credit scores are important and you should know yours — and why not? — when you can check them for free without giving away your credit card number.

First, let’s dive right into the three main ways to check your score for free:

1. Free Credit Score Sites – There are several specialized sites that give you access to your score for free with no credit card requirement. These sites include Credit Sesame, Credit Karma, and Quizzle.
2. Lenders – Peer-to-peer lending sites like Prosper and Lending Club give you access to your credit rating if you apply to become a borrower. You can also access your credit score whenever you apply for a loan.
3. Credit Monitoring Service Trials – Many credit monitoring services offer a free trial. As part of the trial, you can experience their services, which include instant access to your credit reports and scores. Generally, I don’t recommend this because too many people fail to read the fine print and ended up paying something in the process.

Free Credit Score Sites

First, there are services out there that let you access your scores for free…absolutely free. Here are the ways to obtain your credit scores from Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian (the three major credit reporting agencies).

	Credit Sesame and Quizzle let you access your Experian score for free (no credit card required) in about 5 minutes. They also provide other financial information about you. This information is gathered from Experian database and is a very accurate reflection of your current financial picture.For more detail about Credit Sesame, please read: How to Get Free Experian Credit Score from Credit Sesame.
	Unfortunately, there is current no free option to obtain your Equifax score. You can access your score through one of the Equifax offers (e.g., for a one-time fee of $19.95 one-time) or take advantage of a 30-day free trial from GoFreeCredit.com.
	Credit Karma give you access to your TransUnion score for free without credit card and with no hidden costs or obligations. For more detail about Credit Karma, please read: How to Get Free Credit Score from TransUnion.

Lenders

In addition to methods outline above, you will also gain access to your credit scores when you apply for a loan. While the information is free, accessing your scores this way will show up as a hard pull credit inquiry that slightly hurt your scores. Also, I do not recommend you applying for a loan just to see your scores.

• Personal loan – If you take out a personal loan, e.g., become a borrower on LendingClub or Prosper, you will gain access to your credit rating.
• Car loan – When you finance the purchase of your new or used car, the loan officer will pull your credit scores to determine your creditworthiness and what he can offer you. Whether you are approved or rejected, you have the right to know the scores that he pulled, so feel free to ask him for it.
• Home loan – When you pre-qualify for a loan, or apply for a loan (a mortgage or refinancing), the lender will pull your credit scores (usually from all three credit reporting agencies). Again, you can request this information and see your credit ratings.

If you don’t know your scores yet, give one of these sites a try.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can’t I just get my credit scores from AnnualCreditReport.com?

While AnnualCreditReport.com is the best place to get your free credit reports from the three major reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian), you CANNOT get free credit scores from them. However, the fee to get your scores through AnnualCreditReport.com is nominal; and you could opt to pay for your scores there.

What credit score will I be getting with these services?

These services do not provide your true FICO credit score (you can get this from myFICO). You will have to read carefully about each service and the score(s) they provide. In my experience, I found them to be equally good and only found negligible differences among them.

To learn more about the different types of credit score, please read: Different Types of Credit Scores: FICO, FAKO, and Enhanced.

Leave Your Comment (2 Comments)

1. Caesar F says:

   March 25, 2013 at 12:30 pm

   Does it lower your credit score when you check it out at the sites you mentioned? I hear whenever your score gets checked it drops a certain amount of points.

   Reply
   • Pinyo says:

     April 4, 2013 at 11:58 pm

     @Caesar – Most of these sites use soft pull, so your credit score won’t be affected.

     Reply