Free Credit Score
a review
Free credit score.com is an experian product and overall I liked it very much. Information was clear cut and easy to read. The website was easy to navigate and information easily obtained.
What I like is that you can see your score every month, free. I was wary of scores like these in the past, yet when my score was accessed by a bank for an account opening, the score my bank acquired was only a few points less than the score at this company.
Though free credit score does express in their terms of use that the score used is the plus score and that it is not marketed to any lenders.
Meaning no one in the industry uses that criteria to determine eligibility for credit.
That doesn't mean this score isn't useful. It still is a reflection of your ranking according to criteria gathered about you.
Only thing here is, there is no way to access the info gathered to generate this score. It seems to be lacking info.
Unless you're in line for a mortgage or some high level lending it's not critical that you have a specialized kind of scoring done. It's mostly a general idea of where you are. As they say, for educational purposes.
Other features beyond the free credit score
There is a monthly condensed report that gives you a bit of a scorecard.
As the way most credit monitoring services work, they tell you when there are important changes to your account.
Recently this has been expanded to include financial alerts such as changes to
banking information
an address change
a new order for checks to an existing account
any new account openings
This gives greater security in avoiding credit fraud.
Another good feature is the ability to initiate a dispute straight from this website.
Information break down
On the homepage of free credit score.com you will find a summary of your debt to credit ratio. This is the one single most important factor that creditors look at and this service puts it where it should be.
They break down how much debt you carry and where it is such as mortgages, installments and revolving debt. Then give you a percentage of available credit.
They are full of tips on every page and statistics on average credit use in the U.S.
There is a "score" tab you can hit that details statistics on your score such as where you are each month that you subscribe to this service and how it has changed.
There is also an "understanding your score" tab that shows negative aspects that affect your score as well as the positive information that helped increase it.
What I like is it includes a statement about how lenders may view this information which will help increase knowledge of the credit repair process. Most of these companies give you basic knowledge, but letting you in the mind of lenders is a very helpful aspect.
Features to help with credit improvement strategies
There is also a tab called "estimate your score". This is a calculator that shows what could happen to your score in certain circumstances. This seems to be a popular feature in many monitoring companies that focus on helping you improve your credit.
There are only 6 scenarios and these days everyone's life seems to be a bit more complicated than what this has to offer but it is still interesting.
There is a credit report refresh button that you can use here. It only refreshes the experian report the other credit bureaus' reports you would have to pay extra to get. The credit report that you get seems to be the real thing not some watered down version some of these services throw your way.
Another area I like is the resource area. There are featured articles that discuss a wide range of topics and can bring up some good strategies for credit use and ways to stretch the dollar.
There is a credit question and answer section which again brings up some good info along with an article library for additional information on subjects such as buying a car, buying a house or managing debt.
A useful area here are the calculators. They calculate time to pay off credit cards, help with calculating debt management, personal finances, mortgages and auto loans.
In each category a payoff schedule or payment options can be determined and the possible results of that course of action.
One example being leasing vs loan payment on a vehicle.
All in all I felt that free credit score is a pretty good service for the price.
Price is at $21.95 a month for the experian product with a fico score.
If you want all three credit bureaus it will be 39.95 and includes a Fico 8 credit score. That seems a bit hefty but is actually the usual at most of these companies.
return from free credit score to credit monitoring
return to credit repair resources home page
