You want to check your credit score. Then comes the upsell: pay for three-bureau scores, premium credit monitoring, identity protection, score updates or a monthly credit membership.
Before entering your credit card number, stop and check what you already have. Many banks, credit card issuers and financial services provide access to a credit score without an additional charge. Paying for a score can occasionally be useful, but simply wanting to know your credit score does not automatically mean you need another subscription.
Table of Contents
- Do You Have to Pay to See Your Credit Score?
- What Is the Credit Score Upsell?
- Watch Out for the "Free Credit Score" Trial
- Credit Report vs. Credit Score
- Why You Have More Than One Credit Score
- Is Your Free Score the Same Score a Lender Uses?
- When Paying for a Credit Score May Make Sense
- What to Do Before Paying
- What If You Were Denied Credit?
- Check the Credit Report Behind the Score
- Bottom Line
- Frequently Asked Questions
Do You Have to Pay to See Your Credit Score?
No. You can buy credit scores, but paying is not necessarily your only way to see one.
Many credit card issuers, banks and lenders provide customers with access to a credit score. Look inside your existing bank and credit card accounts before signing up for another service.
Check what you already have first. Open your bank and credit card apps and look for sections called "Credit Score," "Credit Health," "Credit Journey," "Credit Monitoring" or something similar.
If you simply want to monitor the general direction of your credit, a score you're already receiving for free may provide the information you need.
See also: How to Get a Free Credit Score Without a Paid Trial.
What Is the Credit Score Upsell?
The initial offer may be something simple: "See your credit score."
But the next screen may offer considerably more:
- Daily or frequent score updates
- Three-bureau credit monitoring
- Identity-theft monitoring
- Dark-web monitoring
- Credit alerts
- Score simulators
- Identity-theft insurance
- Premium credit reports
- Access to additional scoring models
These aren't necessarily illegitimate products. The real question is whether you need them.
A $20 or $30 monthly package can become a substantial annual expense when the original goal was simply to find out your credit score.
The key question: Are you paying for a credit score you actually need, or are you being sold a larger subscription because you clicked "Check My Score"?
Watch Out for the "Free Credit Score" Trial
Pay particular attention when a free-score offer asks for payment information.
The score itself may initially be free while the offer enrolls you in a credit-monitoring or other subscription service. After a trial period, recurring charges may begin unless you cancel according to the service's terms.
Before entering your card number, check:
- Are you enrolling in a subscription?
- How long does the free period last?
- What will you be charged afterward?
- Does the subscription renew automatically?
- How frequently will you be billed?
- How do you cancel?
- Which credit score are you actually receiving?
A "free score" that requires a paid membership afterward is very different from a score your existing financial institution provides at no additional charge.
Credit Report vs. Credit Score
A credit report and a credit score are related, but they are not the same thing.
Your credit report contains information about your credit accounts, balances, payment history and other reported credit activity.
Your credit score is a number calculated using information from a credit report and a particular scoring model.
You can obtain credit reports from the nationwide credit reporting companies through AnnualCreditReport.com.
For more details, see How to Get a Free Credit Report From All 3 Bureaus.
Important: Getting your free credit report does not necessarily mean you are also receiving a free credit score. They are separate products.
Why You Have More Than One Credit Score
One of the biggest misconceptions about credit scores is that every consumer has one official number.
You can have multiple credit scores.
Scores can differ because of:
- Different credit scoring models
- Different versions of a scoring model
- Different credit bureau data
- Different dates on which the score was calculated
- Different lending purposes
That explains why the number displayed in a consumer app may not exactly match a score you later see during an auto loan, mortgage or credit card application.
Is Your Free Score the Same Score a Lender Uses?
Not necessarily.
A free score can still be useful for monitoring your credit, but lenders can use different scoring models and different credit-report data.
For example, the score you see through a consumer service may not be the exact scoring model used by an auto lender.
That doesn't automatically make the free score inaccurate. It may simply be a different credit score calculated for a different purpose or using a different model.
Don't panic over small score differences. Two legitimate scores can be different without anything being wrong with your credit report.
When Paying for a Credit Score May Make Sense
There can be situations where paying for access to particular scores or additional credit information is useful.
Someone preparing for a major financial application, for example, may want access to additional scoring information beyond a basic free consumer score.
But there is a big difference between deliberately purchasing a particular credit product and paying because a website makes an upgrade appear necessary.
Before purchasing anything, ask:
- What exact score am I receiving?
- Which credit bureau's data is being used?
- Is this a one-time purchase or recurring subscription?
- What else is included?
- Do I already receive similar information somewhere else for free?
What to Do Before Paying
- Check your credit card accounts. Your issuer may already provide a score.
- Check your bank. Some banks provide credit scores or credit-monitoring tools to customers.
- Check existing loan accounts. Your lender may provide credit information as an account feature.
- Review your credit reports. If you're investigating a credit problem, the underlying reports may be more useful than another score.
- Identify the score being offered. Don't assume every credit score is identical.
- Look for recurring billing. Determine whether you're buying a one-time product or beginning a subscription.
- Decide whether the extras matter to you. Don't pay for a large monitoring package solely because you wanted to see one number.
What If You Were Denied Credit?
If you're looking for a credit score because an application was denied, don't immediately start buying different scores trying to determine what happened.
Start with the adverse action notice or other information supplied by the lender.
That notice may identify important information about the decision and the consumer reporting company involved.
ChargeDecoded has several guides for this situation:
- Auto Loan Adverse Action Notice: What It Means
- Auto Loan Denied: What to Do Next
- Which Consumer Report Caused My Application Denial?
Check the Credit Report Behind the Score
If your credit score suddenly falls, the most useful question may not be "Where can I buy another score?"
Instead, ask what changed in the underlying credit report.
Look for problems such as:
- A late payment you believe is incorrect
- An account you don't recognize
- An incorrect balance
- A duplicate debt or collection
- An account incorrectly reported as delinquent
- An account belonging to another person
- Possible identity theft
If the underlying information is inaccurate, investigate that information rather than repeatedly purchasing new scores to watch the effect.
See Credit Report Errors and Credit Repair Guide and How to Dispute an Error on Your Credit Report.
Bottom Line
You don't necessarily need to pay simply to see a useful credit score.
Check your existing bank, credit card and lender accounts first. If you're considering a paid product, determine exactly which score you're getting, what additional services are included and whether you're agreeing to recurring billing.
If you're trying to understand why your credit changed, examining the underlying credit reports may be more useful than purchasing another version of your score.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to pay to see my credit score?
No. Many banks, credit card issuers and other financial services provide access to a credit score without an additional charge.
Why do companies charge for credit scores?
Credit scores and related services can be sold commercially. Paid products may bundle scores with monitoring, alerts, identity-protection features or access to additional credit information.
Why are two of my credit scores different?
Different scoring models, bureau data, model versions and calculation dates can result in different scores.
Is a free credit score fake?
Not simply because it is free. A legitimate free score may use a different scoring model from the one a particular lender uses. Check which scoring model and credit data the service provides.
Does checking my own credit hurt my score?
Checking your own credit report does not lower your credit score. It is different from a lender checking your credit as part of a new credit application.
Does my free credit report include my credit score?
Not necessarily. A credit report and a credit score are separate products. Your credit report contains the underlying credit information used by scoring models.
Should I pay for credit monitoring?
It depends on what the service provides and what you already receive elsewhere. Compare the paid service with free monitoring, alerts and credit tools available through your existing financial accounts before subscribing.
What should I do if a free credit-score trial starts charging me?
Review the service's subscription and cancellation terms and cancel through the required method if you no longer want the service. Keep confirmation of the cancellation. If charges continue after a valid cancellation, contact the company and your card issuer.
Official Resources
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Do I Have to Pay for My Credit Score?
