Expert: Yan Ross - 11/24/2009

Question
Hi:
I must be naive but I thought a consumer could get a free credit report annually and with that would be a score. I have looked and see score for fee or score for a free trial that you can cancel within the trial period and it feels suspect and time consuming. Is there a way to get a free score without a Free Trial experience? Is it a right? I appreciate your time with this. Thanks
Bill

Answer
Bill,

You are not naive, just another consumer disappointed by learning that the FACTA law that required the credit reporting agencies to give you a "free" copy of your credit report did not include a requirement for them to provide you with your credit SCORE as well.

You refer to the "Free Trial" (of a credit monitoring service) as a way to get your credit score without paying for it.  That is no doubt used by many consumers to get access to their credit scores, though they may end up paying for it if they forget/neglect to cancel the service promptly.

Be aware that the different credit reporting agencies may use different "credit scores" -- such as the FICO (Fair Isaac) or a proprietary score (such as Experian uses, so you may have more than one "credit score."

I hope that helps.

Good luck!