In a Nutshell
Your FICO scores are one type of credit scores. If you want to check your FICO scores for free, you may have several options, including myFICO.com, your bank or credit card issuer.Credit scores are an important part of a person’s financial health. Knowing your scores can help keep you on track toward your financial goals.
It’s a good idea to check your credit scores and credit reports from several sources since the same information is not necessarily reported to each of the three main credit bureaus.
A common credit scoring model to check is FICO, provided by Free Isaac Corporation. FICO has dozens of different scoring versions, and you may be able to check your FICO score — typically FICO® Score 8 — for free.
Credit Karma provides free VantageScore 3.0 credit scores from the credit bureaus TransUnion and Equifax. VantageScore is a different scoring model than FICO, but it’s still a good way to gauge your credit standing since it’s used by top banks and lenders.
- What is a FICO score?
- How to get your FICO scores for free
- What’s the difference between VantageScore and FICO?
- FAQs about how to check your FICO scores
What is a FICO score?
Your FICO score is a type of credit score. Lenders may use your FICO scores to assess your risk as a borrower when you apply for a new loan or credit card.
In addition to its base versions, FICO also offers industry-specific scoring models (and scores) for different credit products, such as auto loans, credit cards and mortgages.
Your FICO score is calculated based on a variety of factors, such as:
- Payment history
- Outstanding balances
- Length of credit history
- New credit
- Credit mix
How to get your FICO score for free
Here are some ways to check your FICO score for free. There’s no hard inquiry with any of these options, so checking your score won’t affect your credit.
- FICO
- Discover
- American Express® credit cards
- Citibank® credit cards
- Bank of America
- Capital One
- Wells Fargo
- Credit unions
1. FICO
You can sign up for a free account on myFICO.com to access your monthly FICO® Score 8 based on your Equifax credit report.
myFICO.com also offers two paid plans that allow you to access your FICO scores from all three credit bureaus every one to three months, depending on the plan. These paid plans also come with identity theft insurance, credit scores for mortgages and auto loans and identity monitoring.
2. Discover
You can use Discover to help track your FICO® Score 8 based on your TransUnion credit report.
In addition to having access to your free FICO credit score each month, you’ll be able to learn more about the factors that make up your scores. But you have to be a Discover cardmember to view your scores.
3. American Express® credit cards
American Express gives cardholders access to their free FICO® Score 8. The FICO score provided is based on your Experian credit report.
Your FICO score is available through your online American Express account and gets updated periodically.
4. Citibank® credit cards
Another credit card issuer that will provide your FICO score for free (for select Citi cards) is Citibank. Scores are based on your Equifax® credit reports using the FICO® Bankcard Score 8 model, and they update on a monthly basis. Keep in mind that this FICO score model has a range of 250 to 900.
5. Bank of America
Bank of America offers eligible cardholders free access to their FICO® Score 8. The score provided is based on your TransUnion® credit report and updated each month. Plus, you will also have access to some useful insights.
The first insight tracks your recent scores over time, so you can see how you’ve been performing month to month. This can be helpful if you’ve been working to boost your credit. The second insight will show national FICO score averages. This allows you to compare your score against others.
6. Capital One
Unlike some of the other credit card issuers we’ve mentioned, Capital One allows anyone who signs up to access their FICO® Score 8 from TransUnion for free — you don’t have to be a Capital One customer.
Plus, you can get personalized insights about your credit score and tips to improve your score. You’ll also get alerts for any important changes on your credit report along with dark web monitoring.
7. Wells Fargo
Any eligible Wells Fargo account holders are able to access their FICO® Score 9 from Experian for free with monthly credit updates.
You’ll also get credit monitoring alerts and personalized tips to help improve your credit score.
8. Credit unions
Another option for getting your FICO scores for free is through a credit union. Not all of them offer this benefit, but if you belong to one, it’s worth checking. For example, DCU Credit Union offers members who sign up free access to their monthly FICO score from Equifax.
What’s the difference between VantageScore and FICO?
VantageScore and FICO are both credit scoring models — they are not credit bureaus. VantageScore is a collaboration between the three main consumer credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Credit Karma provides free credit scores and reports from TransUnion and Equifax using VantageScore 3.0.
Both scoring models are widely used by lenders and credit card issuers to evaluate credit but they have their differences. For example, you may be able to generate a VantageScore 3.0 credit score with just one month of credit history. With FICO, you’ll need at least one account with six months of credit history reported to a credit bureau to generate a FICO® Score 8 score.
Another difference between VantageScore and FICO is the scoring models they use to determine your credit scores. While they look at similar factors when calculating your scores, those factors can be weighed differently.
| FICO® Score 8 | VantageScore 3.0 |
|---|---|
| Payment history: 35% | Payment history: 40% |
| Amounts owed: 30% | Age and type of credit: 21% |
| Length of credit history: 15% | Credit utilization: 20% |
| New credit: 10% | Balance: 11% |
| Credit mix: 10% | New credit: 5% |
| Available credit: 3% |
Next steps
Understanding your credit scores, including your FICO credit scores, plays a big part in getting a handle on your overall financial health. For example, your credit scores could affect your borrowing costs when you purchase a new car or home.
Monitoring your credit reports is another good way to keep an eye on your financial health. It can help you detect errors on your reports — like incorrect personal information, payments you didn’t make, or hard inquiries or new accounts you don’t recognize.
Credit Karma offers free credit monitoring and can alert you to any key changes to your Equifax or TransUnion credit reports.
myFICO.com also offers free credit monitoring for your Equifax credit report when you sign up and will alert you of any important changes to your report. TransUnion and Experian also offer free credit monitoring when you sign up.
FAQs about how to check your FICO score
VantageScore and FICO are separate companies that created their own credit scoring models. One difference between VantageScore and FICO is that they use different credit score factors and weigh each differently in their scoring models. Another difference is that with VantageScore, you just need one month of credit history to generate VantageScore credit scores. FICO requires an account to have been open for at least six months and been reported to the credit bureaus in order to generate FICO credit scores.
There are a lot of factors that go into your credit scores but making on-time payments is typically the largest contributor to improving your credit scores. Keeping your total credit utilization low also can help to improve your scores.
You have many different credit scores, and each credit score provides slightly different insight into your financial health. There is no one “real” credit score, but many places are able to share some of your credit scores for free. Credit Karma provides free credit scores and reports from TransUnion and Equifax using the VantageScore 3.0 scoring model.
Yes, there are a number of options to check your FICO scores for free, including myFICO.com, Capital One, Bank of America, Discover and various credit unions.
Credit Karma does not provide credit scores using the FICO scoring model. It provides free credit scores and reports from TransUnion and Equifax using the VantageScore 3.0 scoring model.
You can access your credit scores from all three credit bureaus by paying for a service — like through myFICO.com. If you don’t want to pay to see all three scores, you can create accounts with Experian, Equifax and TransUnion to see your credit scores from each individual credit bureau. Keep in mind that you have more than three credit scores depending on the credit scoring model and the credit bureau.