How to Check Your Credit Score for Free (And Why It Matters)

Credit scores tell lenders or credit card providers how creditworthy you are. The higher this number in a range of 300 to 850, the more likely you are to be offered favorable loan terms and interest rates.

You might ask why credit scores matter, and it’s simple: every time you pay your credit card bills, loan payments, or mortgages on time, you raise your score. So lenders can assess the danger of granting you a loan or credit card just by looking at your score.

As you read on, you'll learn more about how to check your credit score, if you can perform a credit score check for free, and whether doing so may lower it.

Why Your Credit Score Matters

Your credit score serves as a financial nametag that states, "I can be trusted to repay whatever I borrow because I have done so on time in the past." This implies that banks, credit unions, credit card providers and online lenders will trust you with lower interest rates and more flexible loan terms.

The same goes for getting a new credit card, signing a rental agreement, and even applying for specific jobs. If your credit score is low, higher interest rates, fewer loan approvals, and limited financial flexibility will make you feel blocked when you wish to truly borrow money.

This is why credit scores are important and should be checked often. When you know your score, you can build strategies for further improving it.

Best Ways to Check Your Credit Score for Free

You can check your credit score for free using credit bureaus, trusted financial apps, and banking services. Because you will be sharing your data with these services, you must select a secure, reliable platform. 

The three national credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion—offer free credit reports. However, they do charge some fees for credit scores. 

You can also get a free credit score check from popular financial applications like Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, and WalletHub. These apps also offer features to help you improve your financial health.

Check Your Credit Score Step-by-Step

For checking your credit score, you will need information like personal identification and Social Security Number (SSN). Just follow these steps:

• Choose any of the trusted credit bureaus or apps.

• Sign up or log in to access your credit information.

• Navigate to the credit score section to view the score.

Checking your credit score is an easy thing to do and you don’t need to be a technical expert for it!

What to Do After You Check Your Credit Score

Currently, FICO and VantageScore are two credit score models used but lenders. Out of these two, FICO is used by most lenders and for 90 percent of lending decisions. So let’s understand what category yours is:

• Poor: 300–579

• Fair: 580–669

• Good: 670–739

• Very good: 740–799

• Exceptional: 800–850

If your score is currently low, it’s not the end of the world. You may easily improve it by reducing your debt and paying credit card bills on time. At times, it is possible for credit reports to have errors. What you can do is check your score on more than 2 platforms. 

Sometimes there are even slight differences in credit scores on different platforms but that is just due to the different scoring models they must be following. If you keep a track of your score regularly its beneficial because you’ll avoid any sudden surprises and can actually work on it to improve over time.

Common Myths About Checking Credit Scores

1. Checking your credit score always lowers it.

There is a common misconception that checking your credit score lowers it. This is not entirely true unless put into context. When you’re doing a personal credit score check, it is a soft-inquiry and it doesn’t always lower your score. 

However, when you’ve applied for a loan and the lender tries to check your credit score through a hard-inquiry, that lowers your credit score but not more than a few points.

2. Free credit score checks aren’t accurate.

This is also not true because individual platforms are linked to credit bureaus and offer you data that is reliable. 

3. You cannot check your score more than once a year.

People who think this have confused credit scores with an yearly credit report. While the report comes out on a yearly basis, you can check your credit score however many times you wish to.

Final Thoughts

Checking your credit score for free is an easy process. In case your score is lower than you expected, you may correct it by reducing debt, paying credit card bills on time, and repaying a payday installment loan.

During an emergency, taking a payday loan online will help you tackle the expenses. Our website connects you to reputable lenders who offer loans at low interest rates without collateral or credit score checks. You can keep them as an option to receive the funds you need quickly without lengthy documentation. 

As for your credit score, repaying the installment loans in monthly payments will also help you increase it. Keep a track of your score over time to keep yourself creditworthy.