What is the best way to get a free up to date copy of my credit score. I have to submit this for my first assignment

[www.annualcreditreport.com]

Credit Karma

Credit Karma

I just signed up with Credit Karma. They provide credit scores for free from Trans Union and Equifax. It looks like they update it weekly. Discover card provides your FICO score monthly.

annualcreditreport.com doesn't give you your score, just your credit report once a year. You have to pay for your credit score.

Check with your credit card company and see if they offer it. If you belong to a credit union, they may offer it also. Both are one click, and free.

If you have a card with a company that was hacked (Home Depot, Target, Michael's) see if they offer it for free.

Your very first assignment requires your credit score? Since there are not a ton of shops requiring one it seems unusual.

Credit Karma as well as those offered by individual credit card companies or even the credit bureaus are not true FICO scores. Those are what they call FAKO scores. Since Fair Isaacs doesn't release the actual FICO formula the only place to get your true FICO score is from their website or somewhere that it's advertised as your FICO score, not just your credit score. Many companies have tried to replicate the score (some with better results than others), so while it is very possible one might return the same score for a particular person at a particular time there is no guarantee that it will continue to have the same score if any information changes.

bgriff, what is the difference between a FICO score and a credit score?

I get a FICO score from my credit card, and it's updated monthly. I get the same from crappy credit union.

FICO stands for Fair, Isaacs & Co. They are a data analytics company that first came up with the credit score model in the 50's. Their number, which is called a FICO Score, is a result of a complex algorithm. They have never published what the actual components of the FICO Score is. They are the score almost every lender in the US uses to gauge credit risk. The term "Credit Score" has become synonymous with "FICO Score" but they are not the same. Many companies have come up with a similar algorithm that mimics the score and marketed it as a "Credit Score." Since the name has become synonymous many people think it's the same thing. Some of them are better than others but none of them are perfect. For instance I once checked my actual FICO and Credit Karma at the same time and they were 20 points off. Sometimes it might be the same but it's just because it's the rare instance that both algorithms came up the same. Non-FICO scores are good for checking trends but they are not good for knowing your true FICO. Let's say you're boarderline (640). Credit Karma, or Trans-Union's score (which is NOT a FICO but is oddly fairly widely used by auto lenders) may say you're a 650. So you think hrm I should be able to qualify for that timeshare shop that requires a 640. But your FICO score, that comes from Fair, Isaacs, may say you're only a 635. Then you go apply for that shop and OOOOOOOOPS. Of you may be waiting for your FICO to his 720 before applying for a mortgage because that's a big interest rate break point. Some FAKO might say you're 725 but FICO might say you're 715. OR the other way around. You might be checking Credit Karma and only getting 715 and so you wait on that new home when all along your true FICO is 720. FICO Scores are fairly expensive, if someone is giving you a score and it's a FICO, they're absolutely gonna market it as a FICO. If it has any other name or just says Credit Score, it's a FAKO.

FAKO FICO- I like that

The scores on credit card statements show FICO(R) with the registration symbol. As you said, FICO doesn't release its algorithms; instead it receives royalties from CRAs and lenders when they sell the scores. FICO has about 50 different algorithms at this point that are increasingly specific, e.g., is a borrower more likely to skip payments on a car loan or a student loan. They're all FICO scores, they just measure different risks. [www.myfico.com]

FAKO came from another message forum I used to belong to when I was obsessed with credit and credit scores and getting the highest possible one.

Now I'm just the opposite. I owe no one anything, have no plans to ever owe anyone anything, and couldn't possibly care less what my FICO score is.

^^ ditto. That was my attitude for years, but I'm getting another car soon, so I'm paying more attention temporarily. It bothers me that it's mandatory to be in a database I don't want to be in and the CRAs are not good stewards of my data. We should be able to opt out of the credit reporting system with the understanding that if we want credit in the future, we'll have to wait several days for the research to be done manually by contacting our financial references directly.

You could solve that problem by paying cash for a car.

Ummmm, im accepting donations. No offer is too arge or too small