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Learn About Credit Scores

What are credit scores, and how are they different from credit reports?

Credit scores are three-digit "scores" that show how responsible you've been in paying off credit cards, mortgages, car loans, and other lines of credit. The three credit bureaus — TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian — use the information in your credit report to calculate your credit scores.

Credit reports provide the information the bureaus use to calculate your credit score. They list, among other things, your reported on-time, delinquent, and missed payments. (To see what else they contain, check out the "Learn More About Credit Reports" section below.)

For more information, check out "How Credit Scores Are Calculated."

How do you know if your credit scores are good?

Along with your free credit scores, FreeScore offers you an analysis of where your scores are relative to others. FreeScore's credit score estimator measures your scores against those of the general population and assigns you a grade — A, B, C, etc. — according to where you stand in comparison to others.

What is a good credit score?

Generally speaking, a credit score of 750 or higher is considered good — that is, lenders will consider you a lower risk of defaulting on a line of credit. While the cut-off line for "good" scores is subject to change, the higher your score is, the better your chances are to secure a loan or other line of credit at a desirable interest rate.

To learn more, check out "What Is a Good Credit Score?"

What are credit score ranges?

The range of credit scores differs from bureau to bureau but in general, they range from a low in the 300s to a high in the mid-800s. Your scores can also differ from bureau to bureau because credit issuers aren't required to report your credit transactions to all three bureaus; some of them may report your credit activity to only one or two of them. Regardless of the bureau, though, most people have credit scores somewhere between 500 and 800.

For more information, check out "Credit Score Ranges."

Learn More About Credit Reports

What's included in your credit report?

Your credit report contains a variety of information about you, including:

• Your personal information — name, current and previous addresses, Social Security number, past and current employers, and more
  
  
• Your credit history — mortgages, auto loans, student loans, credit cards, and other lines of credit opened in your name, along with your history of payments (on-time, late, or missed)
  
  
• Public records about you — bankruptcies, liens, court judgments, unpaid taxes, and more
  
  
• Inquiries — organizations or individuals who have requested your credit report
  
  
• Disputes — any information that you've added to your credit report disputing items on it

Should you expect to find errors in your credit reports?

Errors are commonly found in credit reports, due to input errors, incorrect reporting from credit issuers or merchants to the bureaus, or even identity theft events. The only way to determine whether your credit reports are accurate is to carefully review your reports from all three bureaus — TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.

What is AnnualCreditReport.com?

AnnualCreditReport.com is the government-mandated website through which you can order a free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus once every 12 months. Through AnnualCreditReport.com, you can order a credit report from each bureau at the same time, or you can stagger your requests throughout the year.

Learn More About Credit Monitoring

What is credit monitoring?

Credit monitoring is a service that alerts you whenever a change is made to the information in your credit files at one or more of the three credit bureaus. Triple-bureau monitoring obviously provides a more comprehensive overview of the changes being made in your credit files.

Changes that can trigger an alert include new addresses; new users being added to credit card accounts in your name; on-time, delinquent, or missed payments on accounts in your name; inquiries into your credit files made by third parties; and more.

For more information about credit monitoring, check out "How to Choose a Credit Monitoring Service."

What can credit monitoring do for you?

Monitoring your credit can help you keep track of your credit activity, which is particularly useful if you're planning to apply for a loan or line of credit in the foreseeable future. The sooner you're alerted to errors that might harm your credit score, the quicker you can dispute them to protect your credit history — and with it, your credit score.

Credit monitoring is also a good way to quickly detect suspicious or unauthorized activity within your credit records. Such activity is often a sign of identity theft, and the sooner you detect and react to identity theft, the more chance you have of limiting the damage it can inflict.

To learn more about the benefits of credit monitoring, check out "10 Reasons You Need a Credit Monitoring Service."

Can you monitor your credit without using a service?

You can monitor your credit through AnnualCreditReport.com if you'd like. However, because creditors aren't required to report your credit behavior to every credit reporting bureau, if a change occurs at one bureau after you've ordered your credit report from them, you won't be aware of it for 12 months.

To learn more about monitoring your credit on your own, check out "What You Miss With Do-It-Yourself Credit Monitoring."