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How Do I Check My Credit Score?

Quick Answer

You can check your credit scores by creating accounts with credit bureaus, free credit score websites, creditors and credit counselors.

Woman is checking her credit score on smartphone while sitting comfortably on the couch

In this article:

How to Check Your Credit Scores
What Are the Credit Score Ranges?
What Do Credit Scores Mean?
What Factors Affect Your Credit Score?
How to Maintain a Good Credit Score

There are many ways to check your credit for free, and doing so on a regular basis can help you assess your overall credit health. Having a good credit score can make it easier to qualify for affordable financing and lower insurance rates, and it can also give you an advantage when trying to lease an apartment or get certain jobs.

Here's what you need to know about how to check your credit score and what this important three-digit number means.

How to Check Your Credit Scores

You can check your credit scores from various sources, often for free. Depending on the source, you might receive a credit score from either FICO or VantageScore^® . Both credit scoring companies calculate several versions of their credit scores, and the scores can be based on your credit report from Experian, TransUnion or Equifax.

Both FICO and VantageScore maintain lists of where you can get your credit scores for free—there are hundreds of options. But most fall into one of the following categories.

Learn more >> The Difference Between VantageScore and FICO^® Scores^☉

1. Check With the Major Credit Bureaus

The major credit bureaus might offer you a free copy of your credit report and a free or paid credit score based on the report.

Experian: With Experian, you can get your credit report and FICO^® Score 8 for free anytime. An Experian account also comes with free credit report and score tracking, so you can get notified of changes in your credit report and track your score over time. You'll also receive tips for improving your credit score.
Equifax: You can access your Equifax credit report and VantageScore 3.0 credit score for free through the Equifax Core Credit service. The score is updated once a month. If you want access to alerts and the ability to lock your report, however, you'll need to pay $4.95 per month for Equifax Credit Monitor.
TransUnion: This credit bureau doesn't offer free reports or scores directly. TransUnion's credit monitoring service, which comes with access to your credit report and VantageScore 3.0 credit score, costs $29.95 per month.

2. Use a Free Credit Score Website

Some websites offer a free credit score to their users as an incentive for creating an account. The type of score and underlying report can vary from one website to the next, as can the insights that the website offers about your score. Sometimes, the websites offer paid subscriptions with additional features or show users loan or credit card offers.

It's important to note that while you can obtain free weekly credit reports through AnnualCreditReport.com, the service doesn't offer credit score access.

3. Check With Your Credit Card Issuer or Lender

Many credit card issuers and lenders give current cardholders and borrowers a free credit score, which may be a FICO^® Score or VantageScore credit score. You can usually see your score by logging in to your online account or using your card issuer's mobile app.

The score often gets updated with your monthly statement, and it might be the same one that the company uses to evaluate new applicants and current customers.

Find out if any of your current creditors offer this as a free service and whether you automatically get your credit score each month or have to sign up for the free credit score program.

4. Visit a Nonprofit Credit Counselor

If you have questions about your credit, budgeting, buying a home, bankruptcy or managing your credit card debt, consider a free meeting with a nonprofit credit counselor. Credit counseling agencies can help with various financial questions or problems, and a counselor can help you check your credit score and explain how to improve your credit.

What Are the Credit Score Ranges?

Most credit scores range from 300 to 850. Improving your credit score could help you qualify for more financial products, lower interest rates and fewer fees. Many creditors also break down the credit score range into smaller groups.

Although creditors can choose their own definitions or ranges for these groups, FICO and VantageScore offer their own benchmarks you can use to understand where you fall. For example, a good credit score could be a FICO^® Score from 670 to 739 or a VantageScore credit score from 661 to 780.

FICO<sup>®</sup> Score Ranges

VantageScore Ranges

What Do Credit Scores Mean?

Credit scores help organizations quickly assess the risk that someone they lend money to won't repay the loan. Most credit scores are designed to rank people based on the likelihood that they'll miss a payment by at least 90 days within the next 24 months.

Having a high credit score means: You're statistically less likely to miss a loan or credit card payment. As a result, you pose less of a risk to the lender and may qualify for lower interest rates and fees.
Having a low credit score means: You're statistically more likely to miss a loan or credit card payment. Because you pose a higher risk to the lender, you may receive higher interest rates and fees, or you may be denied credit altogether.

What Factors Affect Your Credit Score?

Most credit scores only consider information from one of your credit reports to determine your score. But the scores use complex calculations, and the impact of each new data point depends on the rest of the information included in your credit profile. In other words, it's impossible to say that a specific action will have the same credit impact for everyone.

There are, however, general categories of what affects your credit scores. You can order these from most to least important based on how the factors within each category tend to affect your score.

For the FICO^® Score, the score used by 90% of top lenders, the factors that affect your credit score are:

Payment history (35%): Paying bills on time could improve your credit as this is the most important factor of your credit score. On the other hand, late or missed payments, collection accounts and filing for bankruptcy can drastically hurt your scores.
Amount of debt (30%): The number of accounts you have with balances and your progress repaying loans also have a large impact on your credit scores. Another crucial factor is your credit utilization rate, which measures how much of your credit limit you're using on your credit cards. A low utilization ratio is best for your scores.
Length of credit history (15%): The age of the oldest and newest accounts in your credit report, as well as the average age of all your accounts, can also affect your scores. Generally, the longer you've used credit, the better for your scores.
New credit (10%): Opening new accounts and applying for credit, indicated by a hard inquiry in your credit report, can also affect your scores. In general, a hard inquiry might hurt your scores a little. This category doesn't have a major impact on your scores, and opening new credit accounts is often a necessary step for building good credit over time.
Credit mix (10%): Having open revolving and installment credit accounts shows that you can manage multiple types of credit, which might help your credit scores. This also isn't a major scoring factor, however, and you shouldn't open new credit accounts with the sole purpose of improving your credit mix.

FICO<sup>®</sup> Score 8 factors

How to Maintain a Good Credit Score

Building and maintaining a good credit score can take time, so the sooner you get started, the better. While the specific steps you need to take will depend on your unique credit profile, here are some general guidelines you can follow:

Always pay your bills on time. Your debt payment history is the most important factor in your credit score, so it's crucial that you always pay on time. Late payments aren't reported to the credit bureaus until they're 30 days past due, so if you accidentally miss a payment, get caught up as quickly as possible.
Keep your credit card balances low. Your credit utilization rate is another critical factor, and people with excellent credit tend to have rates below 10%. You can keep your utilization low by paying your credit cards in full every month and maintaining low balances whenever possible.
Monitor your credit score. Frequently checking your credit score and reports can help you track your progress and gain additional insights into how your actions influence your credit health. It'll also make it easier to spot and address potential problems as they develop, so you can minimize their potential negative impact.

Learn more >> How to Maintain a Good Credit Score

Frequently Asked Questions

No, checking your credit score won't lower it. When you check your own credit score, it's considered a soft inquiry, which doesn't have any impact on your credit score. In other words, you can and should review your credit as often as you'd like.
At the very least, it's a good idea to review your credit score well before you apply for credit. However, if you're not planning to apply for credit anytime soon, you may consider checking it at least once a quarter.
Fortunately, some credit monitoring services give you real-time alerts when changes are made to your credit report and score, making it easier to stay on top of your credit health without too much legwork.

Monitor Your Credit Score for Free

Experian's free account includes your credit report and FICO^® Score, as well as ongoing credit score monitoring so you can see how your score changes over time. You can also receive insights into the factors that are affecting your credit score the most and get tips on how to improve your score.

How Good Is Your Credit Score?

300 credit score 301 credit score 302 credit score 303 credit score 304 credit score 305 credit score 306 credit score 307 credit score 308 credit score 309 credit score 310 credit score 311 credit score 312 credit score 313 credit score 314 credit score 315 credit score 316 credit score 317 credit score 318 credit score 319 credit score 320 credit score 321 credit score 322 credit score 323 credit score 324 credit score 325 credit score 326 credit score 327 credit score 328 credit score 329 credit score 330 credit score 331 credit score 332 credit score 333 credit score 334 credit score 335 credit score 336 credit score 337 credit score 338 credit score 339 credit score 340 credit score 341 credit score 342 credit score 343 credit score 344 credit score 345 credit score 346 credit score 347 credit score 348 credit score 349 credit score 350 credit score 351 credit score 352 credit score 353 credit score 354 credit score 355 credit score 356 credit score 357 credit score 358 credit score 359 credit score 360 credit score 361 credit score 362 credit score 363 credit score 364 credit score 365 credit score 366 credit score 367 credit score 368 credit score 369 credit score 370 credit score 371 credit score 372 credit score 373 credit score 374 credit score 375 credit score 376 credit score 377 credit score 378 credit score 379 credit score 380 credit score 381 credit score 382 credit score 383 credit score 384 credit score 385 credit score 386 credit score 387 credit score 388 credit score 389 credit score 390 credit score 391 credit score 392 credit score 393 credit score 394 credit score 395 credit score 396 credit score 397 credit score 398 credit score 399 credit score 400 credit score 401 credit score 402 credit score 403 credit score 404 credit score 405 credit score 406 credit score 407 credit score 408 credit score 409 credit score 410 credit score 411 credit score 412 credit score 413 credit score 414 credit score 415 credit score 416 credit score 417 credit score 418 credit score 419 credit score 420 credit score 421 credit score 422 credit score 423 credit score 424 credit score 425 credit score 426 credit score 427 credit score 428 credit score 429 credit score 430 credit score 431 credit score 432 credit score 433 credit score 434 credit score 435 credit score 436 credit score 437 credit score 438 credit score 439 credit score 440 credit score 441 credit score 442 credit score 443 credit score 444 credit score 445 credit score 446 credit score 447 credit score 448 credit score 449 credit score 450 credit score 451 credit score 452 credit score 453 credit score 454 credit score 455 credit score 456 credit score 457 credit score 458 credit score 459 credit score 460 credit score 461 credit score 462 credit score 463 credit score 464 credit score 465 credit score 466 credit score 467 credit score 468 credit score 469 credit score 470 credit score 471 credit score 472 credit score 473 credit score 474 credit score 475 credit score 476 credit score 477 credit score 478 credit score 479 credit score 480 credit score 481 credit score 482 credit score 483 credit score 484 credit score 485 credit score 486 credit score 487 credit score 488 credit score 489 credit score 490 credit score 491 credit score 492 credit score 493 credit score 494 credit score 495 credit score 496 credit score 497 credit score 498 credit score 499 credit score 500 credit score 501 credit score 502 credit score 503 credit score 504 credit score 505 credit score 506 credit score 507 credit score 508 credit score 509 credit score 510 credit score 511 credit score 512 credit score 513 credit score 514 credit score 515 credit score 516 credit score 517 credit score 518 credit score 519 credit score 520 credit score 521 credit score 522 credit score 523 credit score 524 credit score 525 credit score 526 credit score 527 credit score 528 credit score 529 credit score 530 credit score 531 credit score 532 credit score 533 credit score 534 credit score 535 credit score 536 credit score 537 credit score 538 credit score 539 credit score 540 credit score 541 credit score 542 credit score 543 credit score 544 credit score 545 credit score 546 credit score 547 credit score 548 credit score 549 credit score 550 credit score 551 credit score 552 credit score 553 credit score 554 credit score 555 credit score 556 credit score 557 credit score 558 credit score 559 credit score 560 credit score 561 credit score 562 credit score 563 credit score 564 credit score 565 credit score 566 credit score 567 credit score 568 credit score 569 credit score 570 credit score 571 credit score 572 credit score 573 credit score 574 credit score 575 credit score 576 credit score 577 credit score 578 credit score 579 credit score

580 credit score 581 credit score 582 credit score 583 credit score 584 credit score 585 credit score 586 credit score 587 credit score 588 credit score 589 credit score 590 credit score 591 credit score 592 credit score 593 credit score 594 credit score 595 credit score 596 credit score 597 credit score 598 credit score 599 credit score 600 credit score 601 credit score 602 credit score 603 credit score 604 credit score 605 credit score 606 credit score 607 credit score 608 credit score 609 credit score 610 credit score 611 credit score 612 credit score 613 credit score 614 credit score 615 credit score 616 credit score 617 credit score 618 credit score 619 credit score 620 credit score 621 credit score 622 credit score 623 credit score 624 credit score 625 credit score 626 credit score 627 credit score 628 credit score 629 credit score 630 credit score 631 credit score 632 credit score 633 credit score 634 credit score 635 credit score 636 credit score 637 credit score 638 credit score 639 credit score 640 credit score 641 credit score 642 credit score 643 credit score 644 credit score 645 credit score 646 credit score 647 credit score 648 credit score 649 credit score 650 credit score 651 credit score 652 credit score 653 credit score 654 credit score 655 credit score 656 credit score 657 credit score 658 credit score 659 credit score 660 credit score 661 credit score 662 credit score 663 credit score 664 credit score 665 credit score 666 credit score 667 credit score 668 credit score 669 credit score

670 credit score 671 credit score 672 credit score 673 credit score 674 credit score 675 credit score 676 credit score 677 credit score 678 credit score 679 credit score 680 credit score 681 credit score 682 credit score 683 credit score 684 credit score 685 credit score 686 credit score 687 credit score 688 credit score 689 credit score 690 credit score 691 credit score 692 credit score 693 credit score 694 credit score 695 credit score 696 credit score 697 credit score 698 credit score 699 credit score 700 credit score 701 credit score 702 credit score 703 credit score 704 credit score 705 credit score 706 credit score 707 credit score 708 credit score 709 credit score 710 credit score 711 credit score 712 credit score 713 credit score 714 credit score 715 credit score 716 credit score 717 credit score 718 credit score 719 credit score 720 credit score 721 credit score 722 credit score 723 credit score 724 credit score 725 credit score 726 credit score 727 credit score 728 credit score 729 credit score 730 credit score 731 credit score 732 credit score 733 credit score 734 credit score 735 credit score 736 credit score 737 credit score 738 credit score 739 credit score

740 credit score 741 credit score 742 credit score 743 credit score 744 credit score 745 credit score 746 credit score 747 credit score 748 credit score 749 credit score 750 credit score 751 credit score 752 credit score 753 credit score 754 credit score 755 credit score 756 credit score 757 credit score 758 credit score 759 credit score 760 credit score 761 credit score 762 credit score 763 credit score 764 credit score 765 credit score 766 credit score 767 credit score 768 credit score 769 credit score 770 credit score 771 credit score 772 credit score 773 credit score 774 credit score 775 credit score 776 credit score 777 credit score 778 credit score 779 credit score 780 credit score 781 credit score 782 credit score 783 credit score 784 credit score 785 credit score 786 credit score 787 credit score 788 credit score 789 credit score 790 credit score 791 credit score 792 credit score 793 credit score 794 credit score 795 credit score 796 credit score 797 credit score 798 credit score 799 credit score

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The Experian Smart Money™ Debit Card is issued by Community Federal Savings Bank (CFSB), pursuant to a license from Mastercard International. Banking services provided by CFSB, Member FDIC. Experian is a Program Manager, not a bank.

☉Credit score calculated based on FICO^® Score 8 model. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO^® Score than FICO^® Score 8, or another type of credit score altogether. Learn more.

^Calculated on the VantageScore^® 3.0 model. Your VantageScore 3.0 from Experian^® indicates your credit risk level and is not used by all lenders, your lender may use a score that’s different from your VantageScore 3.0. Click here to learn more.

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