A credit score is a number that determines how creditworthy a person is based on their credit history. Moneylenders or other financial and banking institutions require it to judge the quality and quantity of loans to be granted to debtors. This is done to judge the debtor’s ability to repay the loan. One aspect that must be considered is that different institutions may provide different credit scores due to different scoring systems used.

If the FICO score is taken into account (since it is said to be the most commonly used in the country), then any score below 640 makes the customer a subprime borrower. Any score above 700 will convince lenders to charge average interest rates and terms. Many factors are considered when a credit score is calculated, such as timely repayments in the past, the actual debt amount, credit types, and the length of the borrower’s credit history.

The government has ensured that any citizen can get a free credit score check through three kinds of options, which have been given below.

Seeking the assistance of a credit score service
A website called freecreditscore provides customers with their FICO-standardized free credit score after they signing up without cost. No credit card information is required for this as well. It is possible that some websites earn a majority of their revenue through advertising, and so provide this service for free. Websites such as creditkarma offer more than just free credit scores. They also monitor credit reports, furnish insights and analysis into the trends of credit scores, and provide personalized suggestions on how to improve them.

Counselors who don’t work for profits
There are credit counselors who work on a non-profit basis in different states of the country. They are certified and can be contacted online or via telephone. A list of these can be made, which can be further verified with the office of the State Attorney General and the local consumer protection agency. They provide free credit scores and so do counselors approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Credit card and loan statements
Perhaps the simplest way is for a person to approach their credit card or auto loan company and request them to provide free credit scores every month in their statements. This can also be done through Internet banking.