Get a Free Credit Score Without a Credit Card

Most people know these days that you can get a free credit report without a credit card, but did you know that you can also get a free credit score without a credit card too? Thanks to laws that the government passed in the mid 2000′s, consumers have the ability to get a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus. The credit score, however, is a different thing altogether. FICO, which stands for the Fair Isaac Corporation, is what has put together your credit score and it is a reflection of what is on each individualized credit report.

In other words, there are three major credit reports and there are three major credit scores which you need to be able to keep tabs on. If you don’t, you really could be hurting your financial future. Yet outside the credit reports you get for free every 12 months from each bureau and maybe a free one you get from somewhere else, it can cost over $100 per year to accurately monitor your credit per credit bureau. That’s a lot of money for a lot of people, especially when they are living paycheck to paycheck at best. How do you find this information for free so that you don’t have to keep killing your checkbook to make sure that you’re not killing your checkbook?

Some Credit Monitoring Websites Utilize Targeted Marketing Instead of Monthly Membership Fees

If you are looking for a free credit score whenever you want it, then you’re going to have to look outside the normal parameters of who provides this information to you. Some sites will give you a cheap promotional rate that will entice you to get a credit score for a buck or two, but then hope that you forget that you’re on a short trial period thanks to your signup and charge you monthly fees in yearly installments. You can get it from the credit bureau as well, but that’s going to incorporate another set of fees for you as well.

What you need to do is find a credit monitoring site that brings in their revenues from corporate sponsors instead of membership fees. Now these sites won’t necessarily allow you to access your credit report itself, but it will calculate your credit score without needing to provide a credit card. That will allow you to be able to access your credit score whenever you need to do so, and this allows you to be able to monitor your progress towards raising it as you work toward whatever goal you have set.

Targeted Marketing Sounds a Lot Like Information Sharing

In order for these services to be free, the credit monitoring agency has to find some way to entice you to click on the ads of their sponsors. Otherwise they’d lose money trying to access the information that you are requesting, and one of the easiest ways to get you to click on an advertisement is to flash up a sponsor that will greatly tempt you. Now some websites will share all of your personal information with these advertisers as partial compensation and then it is the sponsor’s duty to get you to click through. You don’t want to have your personal info floating out to who knows where in cyberspace, so you want to make sure that you choose the right websites that don’t do this. Instead of sharing the information with their sponsors, they will take your information and compare it to the sponsors they have signed up. Then they flash up the ads that they think you’ll click on. That’s a small price to pay for a free credit score without a credit card.

Want All Three Credit Scores For Free? Do Your Research First

Many agencies that will offer you the free credit scores from all three major credit bureaus have something of a trump card up their sleeve. Whether it is just giving you limited access or asking you for your bank account information instead of your credit card information. Watch out for very short trial offers and gimmicks that will make you spend more money than you want to spend – namely none.

You can get a free credit score without a credit card today when you find the right website. Be prepared to see a ton of ads, but when you consider that everything is free and stays that way when you stay away from trial offers, it’s a deal that is difficult to pass up.