Get a Free Credit Score – No Credit Card or Payment Required

Credit scores are an important part of your financial health, as lenders use them to determine your creditworthiness to buy a house, sign a cellphone contract or even get a job or security clearance. Here's where you can check your credit score for free.
Advertising Disclosure.

Advertiser Disclosure: The Military Wallet and Three Creeks Media, LLC, its parent and affiliate companies, may receive compensation through advertising placements on The Military Wallet. For any rankings or lists on this site, The Military Wallet may receive compensation from the companies being ranked; however, this compensation does not affect how, where, and in what order products and companies appear in the rankings and lists. If a ranking or list has a company noted to be a “partner,” the indicated company is a corporate affiliate of The Military Wallet. No tables, rankings, or lists are fully comprehensive and do not include all companies or available products.

The Military Wallet and Three Creeks Media have partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. The Military Wallet and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. For more information, please see our Advertising Policy.

American Express is an advertiser on The Military Wallet. Terms Apply to American Express benefits and offers.

Free credit score

Credit scores are an important part of your financial health, as lenders use them to determine your creditworthiness to buy a house, sign a cellphone contract or even get a job or security clearance.

Many companies offer consumers a “free credit score.“ Unfortunately, some of these free credit score offers turn out to be bait-and-switch scams. The problem was so bad that the Federal Trade Commission stepped in a few years ago to create laws dictating how these offers could be advertised.

Free credit scores still exist, but many of them require you to sign up for a free trial offer and then cancel within a certain time period to avoid a fee. Most require you to give your credit card to the company, and they’ll will automatically charge your card after the trial period ends.

But there are a few companies out there that truly offer a free credit score with no credit card or other payment required. 

Many People Confuse Credit Reports and Scores

Credit reports are a record of your credit history, as listed by the credit bureaus. They track credit consumers’ credit history and use it to compile individuals’ credit scores. Your score is a numerical representation of your record, based on a secret formula the credit bureaus use to determine your creditworthiness.

You can always get one free credit report per year, but you can’t always get a free credit score.

The government mandates that credit bureaus provide a free credit report to each person once per year so they can verify the information in their credit profile is accurate.

They do not require the bureaus to give you a free credit score – though the credit bureaus will happily sell you one. To get your free credit report, simply go to annualcreditreport.com

Why It’s Good to Track Your Credit Score

Your credit score is a good representation of your creditworthiness, and it’s the primary indicator lenders use when determining whether or not to approve a loan application.

Credit scores are also used by landlords, cellphone companies, utility companies, employers. It’s also used during security clearance screenings. If you don’t plan to use credit any time soon, you may not need to know or track your credit score.

But, if you are planning to apply for a loan in the near future or are working to improve your credit score, then knowing where you stand can be helpful. If you plan to track your score on a monthly basis, then using one of the free services below can save you a lot of money over the course of the year.

How to Get Your Credit Score for Free

You don’t need to pay for your credit score if you know where to look. There are two major online companies right now that offer consumers free credit scores based on the information found in their credit reports.

To be clear, these are not the FICO credit score, which is the industry standard. But the scores are based on the same data and should be a good representation of your FICO score. For most people, these scores present a fairly accurate estimate of their FICO credit score, as well as any positive or negative trends over time.

These are a good way to check your creditworthiness if you aren’t planning a major purchase in the near future.

Free Credit Score from Credit Karma

Credit Karma gives consumers a free credit score based on the VantageScore 3.0, an alternative to the FICO score, from two of the three main credit bureaus: Equifax and TransUnion.

They also offer a free credit monitoring service, which helps you track changes as they occur and help monitor for identity theft.

Free Credit Score from Credit Sesame

Credit Sesame offers a free credit score when you sign up for their service. They do not require a credit card or other fee. Credit Sesame also uses the VantageScore 3.0 from TransUnion.

These services may offer you a loan or credit card targeted toward your demographic and credit profile. Some of these offers really can help you improve your credit score or earn better perks, like more cash back other rewards. But, you aren’t obligated to use any of Credit Sesame’s recommended services. You can simply create an account and check your score without buying anything else.

Free Credit Score from Experian

Experian offers customers a free copy of their FICO Score. They also offer credit alerts and basic monitoring. If you need to, you can also upgrade your account for daily credit scores, proactive monitoring and much more.

Learn More:

Experian Free Credit Scores

About Post Author

Get Instant Access
FREE Weekly Updates! Enter your information to join our mailing list.

Posted In:

Reader Interactions

Comments

    Leave A Comment:

    Comments:

    About the comments on this site:

    These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

  1. Mark A says

    I really like Credit Karma. A note on the credit monitoring. It’s not initially obvious where this and I don’t think it’s enabled by default. You’ll need to go into Profile & Setting > Communications & Monitoring and then check the box next to Credit Monitoring. I know I didn’t have it on for a long time because I didn’t know I needed to turn it on.

The Military Wallet is a property of Three Creeks Media. Neither The Military Wallet nor Three Creeks Media are associated with or endorsed by the U.S. Departments of Defense or Veterans Affairs. The content on The Military Wallet is produced by Three Creeks Media, its partners, affiliates and contractors, any opinions or statements on The Military Wallet should not be attributed to the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, the Dept. of Defense or any governmental entity. If you have questions about Veteran programs offered through or by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, please visit their website at va.gov. The content offered on The Military Wallet is for general informational purposes only and may not be relevant to any consumer’s specific situation, this content should not be construed as legal or financial advice. If you have questions of a specific nature consider consulting a financial professional, accountant or attorney to discuss. References to third-party products, rates and offers may change without notice.

Advertiser Disclosure: The Military Wallet and Three Creeks Media, LLC, its parent and affiliate companies, may receive compensation through advertising placements on The Military Wallet. For any rankings or lists on this site, The Military Wallet may receive compensation from the companies being ranked; however, this compensation does not affect how, where, and in what order products and companies appear in the rankings and lists. If a ranking or list has a company noted to be a “partner,” the indicated company is a corporate affiliate of The Military Wallet. No tables, rankings, or lists are fully comprehensive and do not include all companies or available products.

Editorial Disclosure: Editorial content on The Military Wallet may include opinions. Any opinions are those of the author alone, and not those of an advertiser to the site nor of  The Military Wallet.

Information from your device can be used to personalize your ad experience.