Top free ways to get your credit score in 2015

Aaah, Credit Scores. We all need to know them, from time to time. These little wizardly digits determine a lot of things for us when it comes to obtaining more things and at what cost. Below i’ve compiled a list of ways on how you can get your credit score for free without the hassle and headache of trials, memberships and even having to pay!

A lot of individuals do not know this but the government, yours and mine both if you are from the good ole’ USA, allows you to get a free credit report once every year. The site for this is annualcreditreport.com. It is the ONLY official site that provides free credit reports approved by Federal law. Why would you want to check this information? Well, you definitely want to make sure that the information reported is correct and up to date as it may impact your standing significantly.

Now here comes the good stuff. If you are need of looking up your numerical credit score from the three major bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion) then i’ve got just the sites to help you out. Each of the credit bureaus have collected and offer different information about you. This may include account balances, credit inquiries, # of accounts open/close, delinquent accounts, hard inquiries, negative remarks and so forth. Credit reports may affect your mortgage rates, credit card approvals, apartment requests, or even your job application. It is also a mechanism to catch identity theft early on.

Now onwards and upwards to the list that you are seeking:

1. Credit Karma – offers free credit scores, reports and fraud alerts. They offer personalized offers and recommendations depending on your credit profile.  Disclaimer: I have been using them happily for the past 2 years. 
2. Credit Sesame – offers free credit scores, monitoring and analysis. They also offer personalized recommendations depending on your credit profile
3. Quizzle – offers free credit score based on Equifax score (VantageScore) which is updated every 6 months. A perk here is they provide personalized home mortgage recommendations and free home value estimates.
4. Credit.com – offers a free Experian credit score including fraud monitoring and an action plan to improve your score. Their site also offers and “advice and tools” section which is filled with resources on tackling your credit score concerns.
5. LendingTree – offers a free Transunion credit score. They offer resources on mortgage related products and services.

Have a suggestion of your own? Share it in the comments below and perhaps we can even add it to the list!