In yesterday’s article on checking your credit reports, I mentioned that it might be worth paying for your credit report to get your credit score. However, if you’re not too worried about an exact number and would like to have a general idea of your credit score, there is a way to calculate this for free.
Visit Bankrate’s FICO Score Estimator and answer ten questions, the calculator will then tell you what range your score falls in.
While you may have this information handy and could check your score at any time, I recommend ordering your free credit reports and once you receive them, enter the information into the calculator and write the score range on your report.
I found this calculator to be quite accurate. I have three different reports that I’ve paid for to get my credit score over the last five years. Two were from Equifax and one was from TransUnion. I answered the questions using the information in these reports and not only did the calculator get the range right, all three times the score on the reports came within 10 points of the middle of the calculated range for that report!
Related Websites:
- Understanding Your Credit Report Score
- TransUnion Reveals National Credit Card Debt on the Rise
- Love credit cards and hate credit card debt
Related Posts:
Thanks for the estimator I tried it and it’s pretty accurate.
What a great tool! This will reduce the temptation to check my current score. I checked once when I had several debts and again after paying off all but one – now I’m wondering how much higher my score is. This puts my last known score very close to the top of the range so it may not have risen that much.
I tried the calculator today and it was quite a bit out. I understand the benefits of checking your credit score because fortunes could be spent on unsuccessful application fees and everytime you apply your credit score goes further down. Fortunately there are places were you can receive a free credit check. It may be a trial but you can unsubscribe after you sign up.
It would be nice if all bureaus, organisations and credit agencies used one pre-agreed ratings scale. That way everyone would know where they are. The way credit ratings are set up at the moment is just confusing for everyone… Actually, I find it very ironic, that in order to build a “credit”, one has to go in “debt” first and pay it. But that is way system is set up.
Finding the right website and place to get free credit reports and checks can help alot of people. Hopefully your resource can aid these people.