Over the last decade, credit scores have evolved to become an invaluable tool for lenders to use in determining an applicants ability to pay their financial commitments. Your credit score will affect interest rates received on credit cards, loans, auto insurance, homeowner's insurance, cell phones, utilities and more. It can even affect your education and career. You can benefit significantly in all aspect of your life by having good credit scores.

Your credit score is determined by the statistics from your credit report. Your score is generated at the time your credit report is requested and is not stored as part of the report. FreeCreditScore.org's Information Center provides information and tools about your credit reports and credit scores. Start there to learn more about the 3 major credit bureaus, credit monitoring, credit reports, credit scores (and what determines them) and identity theft. Understanding your credit information will help keep you in control of your finances and help determine how lenders treat you.

What's your Credit Score?
The most common score is your FICO® (Fair Isaacs) score. Each of the 3 credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax) collects credit information about you. Not all of the information the bureaus have is the same, though, so it is vital in understanding where your credit stands to obtain a credit score from each of the 3 bureaus.

Your credit score is not just a number, it is a tool that you can control and use to save cash. It will become important whenever you need credit and it is an important factor to be considered by any financial organization before they approve your credit application.

You can get a free copy of your credit score from E-LOAN. They provide this score 1 time per person and there is no obligation beyond getting the score.

You can also get a FREE Estimated FICO® Credit Score from MyFICO. While not an actual score, the estimated score is accurate in determining the range your credit score will fall under based on the answers to their questions. There is also no obligation beyond the estimate for this score range.