Credit is a huge part of your financial health. Even if you don’t plan to apply for a loan, your credit can still impact your finances. Insurers, landlords, cell phone service providers, and even some employers use credit history information to make decisions about you.



Because of this, it’s vital that you stay on top of your credit situation. While you will have to pay for some of your credit information at some point, it is possible to keep tabs on your credit information for free.

But how do you know if a source of credit score information is truly free? Here are some resources to help you get access to truly free credit information:

AnnualCreditReport.com

This is the “official” site for obtaining a free credit report each year from the three major bureaus. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires national credit reporting agencies to allow you free access to a credit report every 12 months (rolling window), and AnnualCreditReport.com is your window to each of the three major credit bureaus.

When you visit the site, you select your state, and then hit the red button to the right. You are required to fill in personal information that is used to identify you and pull your credit information. Once you have entered your personal information, you can choose which credit reports you want to view.

At this point, you are taken to the web site of the credit reporting agency. You might be asked to verify information in your report in order to further establish your identity. Once you are on the site, you have the option to return to the AnnualCreditReport.com site for additional credit reports from other major bureaus.

Realize that you aren’t entitled to a free credit score; the bureaus will offer you the option to add your credit score for a cost.

When it comes to accessing your entire report for free, once every 12 months, from each of the three credit bureaus, AnnualCreditReport.com is the best choice — and the one you know you can trust. However, you won’t receive any analysis of your credit situation, and you won’t get access to a free credit score.

Quizzle.com

In order to access your credit information on Quizzle, you do need to enter some personal information so that the site knows what information to pull up, and so that your identity can be verified. Once you have “passed the test” you are taken to a screen with paid offers. If you don’t want to pay for these products, simply click on the “no thanks” link.

Once you are in Quizzle, you can access all of the information on your Experian credit report. This is a complete Experian credit report. Many other free sites offer you the ability to see some of the information in your report, providing summaries, but Quizzle offers complete access to everything you would see with the AnnualCreditReport.com version of the Experian credit report. There is a printable option, too, for easier review.

However, you can only update your report once every six months without being charged. You can enroll in a paid plan if you want more frequent access to your credit report. If you combine your free reports from Quizzle (update every six months) with the Experian report from AnnualCreditReport.com, you can access three free Experian reports a year.

Quizzle also offers you access to your CE score. Lenders don’t use the CE score, so it won’t help you see exactly how lenders view you. Even though you won’t see how lenders view you, your CE score can provide you with a general idea of where you stand with regard to your credit situation, and you can track your improvement.

You can use the My Money and My Home sections to see where you stand with your credit situation, and how you can improve your creditworthiness and general financial outlook. I like the detailed information in the My Money section. Add information about your monthly income for a better report. In My Home, you can compare possible mortgage rates from Quicken Loans (Quizzle has the same owner as Quicken Loans).

Overall, you can get an idea of where you stand, as well as see suggestions for saving money on your loans. In order to dig even deeper, you’ll need to pay for one of Quizzle’s plans. However, you can get a fairly complete picture for free.

CreditKarma.com

The site summarizes your TransUnion credit report (but doesn’t provide the entire report) in a quick and easy manner, after you enter some personal information (including your Social Security number) and verify your identity by answering questions. You also get access to your TransUnion New Account Score, which is the score calculated by that credit bureau.

It’s important to note that, as with Quizzle, the score offered by Credit Karma isn’t a FICO score. Credit Karma also offers your Vantage Score, a model developed by the three major bureaus. VantageScore not only assigns you a number, but it also gives your credit a grade ranging from A to F. You can see at a glance whether you have “good” credit or not. You can also see your auto insurance score and your home insurance score. These two scores are modified credit scores that are used to help set your insurance premiums.

One of the most useful and interesting tools offered by Credit Karma is the credit score simulator that shows you how you can take different actions to impact your credit score. There is also a question section, where you can get answers on various credit-related subjects. Another fun tool Credit Karma offers is a comparison between you and your peers. You can see how your credit stacks up with others in your demographic.

CreditSesame.com

Credit Sesame makes use of the Experian credit report, much like Quizzle. However, unlike Quizzle, though, you need to pay $9 for the full version of your credit report. You can use Credit Sesame to see a summary of your credit situation, including a credit score. The score offered at Credit Sesame is the Experian National Equivalency Score (at least that’s what Wikipedia says). Credit Sesame’s FAQ simply states that a different model than FICO is used.

After you’ve signed up for free, entered your Social Security number, and verified your identity by answering a few questions, you’re in. Credit Sesame offers suggestions on how you can reduce what you owe on credit cards and home loans by recommending different products and services. You don’t have to provide a credit card number to use Credit Sesame, but if you decide to upgrade, or purchase other products, you might have to provide payment information.

With Credit Sesame, you can add financial goals, and track your progress. Credit Sesame also offers advice based on your situation, but a lot of it is aimed at steering you toward products designed to help you refinance some of your debt. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though, since it can save you money in the long run.

FreeCreditScore.com

With a name like that, you might expect to receive a totally free credit score. Unfortunately, you need to be wary of this web site. First of all, the “free” score being talked about here is not your FICO score. Instead, it is Experian Plus Score, which is essentially useless when it comes to understanding how lenders actually view you.

A credit card number is required right when you sign up. You won’t have to give credit card information to any other site in this comparison, and that should raise red flags for you immediately. Once you provide your credit card information, you are enrolled in a seven-day free trial as part of your registration. If you don’t cancel prior to the end of the trial period, you will be charged $14.95 a month for the site’s credit monitoring service. You should realize, too, that the fine print on this site indicates that it can take two days to enroll you in the monitoring service; this means that you might only end up with five days of access before your trial ends.

You can get a credit report from Experian each month, and receive a discount on your three-bureau credit report with your membership. But, honestly, it’s not really worth the $14.95 a month. You can get information that is just as effective for free via other web sites.

What about Equifax?

Most of the free credit resources out there are related to Experian, and Credit Karma is connected to TransUnion. So, what about Equifax? This major credit reporting agency doesn’t offer free credit score trackers at all. You can sign up for a free 14-day trial with the help of a credit card, and get access to your Equifax information regularly by enrolling in a paid plan, but you won’t find the information on your Equifax report offered without cost, outside the one you are entitled to from AnnualCreditReport.com.

As a side note, it’s worth noting that Equifax is the only place, other than myFICO.com, where you can purchase your for-the-consumer version of your FICO score (even this “official” score is not the same exact score that lenders use). Your only online access to your FICO score, whether you go to the source or get it through Equifax, is after you’ve provided credit card information.

Bottom Line

You should definitely use AnnualCreditReport.com to check your credit report from each major credit bureau once a year. You might want to supplement, though, since the official site is lacking when it comes to analysis and credit scoring tools. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to get your FICO score without paying for it. That can be disappointing, but it doesn’t need to mean that sites like Quizzle, Credit Karma, and Credit Sesame are useless. They can give you insight into where you stand, and an idea of where you are headed — in a general way.

The only site that I recommend that you avoid is FreeCreditScore.com. The other sites have redeeming characteristics, and can be quite useful in terms of helping you understand the big financial picture. FreeCreditScore.com just offers you a credit score that lenders don’t even consider, and a free trial that’s a bit of a hassle. You’re almost always better off visiting a free site that doesn’t require a credit card.

With all these free tools available, you should have no problem keeping tabs on your credit score. You can learn a lot about your financial situation, as well as get some helpful information on what you can do to improve your credit score and even save money your debt.

Disclosure: I am paid to provide web content to Quizzle’s blog and to Equifax’s blog.

Image: TrinityCreditServices via Flickr