Ten years ago, if you wanted to know your credit score, you’d have to do a hard pull from some random, potentially sketchy, website. Today, there are so many ways for you to quickly access your FICO and VantageScore. Here, we’re going to focus on 3 very accessible ones: 

Probably the easiest way to check your credit score. When you first sign up for a credit card from Chase, Bank of America, Discover, Citi, American Express, etc. they’ll typically have a dashboard that provides you with a FREE credit score. This can be either a VantageScore 3.0 or 4.0 or a FICO 8 or 9. You might also see it listed through “Credit Journey” if you bank with Chase. This is a legit thing (at least from what I can tell so far) where your bank has partnered with some other credit company to quickly give you a snapshot of your credit score. 

Completely free and they have an app! I love Credit Karma because they give me a snapshot of my credit score from both Equifax and TransUnion, give me hints on how I can improve my score, and even get me a full detailed breakdown of my credit report without having to do a hard pull on my credit. 

Mint has a small section that lets you check out your credit score if you want a quick snapshot. You get some information about your payment history and overall credit utilization, so you’ll know exactly what's hurting and helping your score. I like using Mint because it also puts all my credit cards and bank accounts in one place, so I can quickly plan my budget. 

FAQs

Q: Does it matter which version of FICO or VantageScore I’m looking at?

↬ Nope. It’s just an estimate to let you know in general how you’re doing, with the general health of your account. 

Q: Do using any of these services impact your credit score since it's an inquiry on your credit history? 

↬ Nope. Most of the time these are soft pulls, which don’t have any impact on your scores. 

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