Your Credit Score, No Strings Attached

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — Despite what television and Internet hucksters say, FICO credit scores, with one yearly exception, aren’t free. But the three big credit reporting bureaus are showing signs of offering some credit scoring information on the house.

It’s a smart move, as consumers are getting wise to credit report deals where they can sign up and get their report for free, but only if they pay monthly fees and services for other programs.

Historically, the only pure and simple way to get a free credit score, with no strings attached, was to go through AnnualCreditReport.com.

According to the company’s Web site, AnnualCreditReport is a centralized partnership between the three leading credit report agencies: Equifax (Stock Quote: EFX); Experian (Stock Quote: EXPN); and TransUnion. Through AnnualCreditReport.com, consumers get a free and secure credit report history once every year, in accordance with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act.

But the three credit giants have been honing their credit reporting services, and are getting increasingly aggressive about offering free credit scores with no obligation. The bureaus figure that if they give you the free score, you’ll know more about your credit history; if you know more about your credit history, the thinking goes, you’ll be more likely to buy extra services like credit monitoring and identity theft protection.

Take Equifax: Its Equifax Report Card promises to give your credit score (based on its in-house formula), and provide the factors that impact your credit score. As the site says, there is “no credit card and no obligation” to get your free credit score data.