for reports,there's only one to get real, free once-per-year reports. it's annualcreditreport.com. I am not sure if they give you the score also. Here's a link to the FTC site which explains it all.

FTC consumer info

All the "free credit report" sites don't have real FICO scores; they are "FAKO" scores, because no lender uses them, so they are pretty useless except for a general sense of how you are doing. You can buy your real FICO scores (or at least some version of them) direct from the FICO website.

I do highly recommend the community boards on the FICO website, which have a ton of good information on how credit is scored, how to rebuild your credit, credit cards, etc.

You won't receive a credit score from these reports, but it's highly recommended that everyone check their information in these reports every year. Mistakes ARE made that can negatively impact your credit score.

Another alternative is to apply for credit of some kind, or a loan. The prospective lender, even if for a simple charge card, will most certainly check your credit record and your so-called "score". After they do, ask what they found out.

Credit karma gives you your actual credit score - 1 from Trans Union and 1 from Equifax. It doesn't report your Experian score, but two scores is solid information. It also has other simulated scoring tools. They make their money from prescreened referrals, in other words credit card companies pay them to recommend cards on the site that fit your credit profile, simply ignore them and profit. Or take advantage of them for better interest rates and rewards.

Credit Karma does not give an actual credit score. That is, it does not give you a score that any lender uses, just a ballpark figure. It's useful for checking for identity theft and giving you a general idea of your creditworthiness.

You can get a "real" score from FICO that some lenders may use, say if you're buying a house, but you are unlikely to get a score that matches what your auto lender uses, because they use a different branded score for their industry purchased from FICO. It's a real mess. More info from Forbes: Forbes: The Truth about those New Free Credit Scores

I've used Credit Karma before. No complaints.

Credit Karma uses vantagescore 3.0

While not the Fair Isaac Credit Organization it is very close for the majority of consumers and is growing as an alternative model for credit decisions. Arguably it is far more useful for consumers, as the model weights the last 2 years higher. Those looking to improve credit scores will find the scores slightly higher than FICO so it is possible to see the effects faster. Next, with established credit there is very little difference.

Finally, it is being used in more and more decisions and we have recently seen changes in the FICO scores to actually bring them closer to the Vantagescore.

I don't understand the sudden need for everyone to know their credit score unless they plan on going further into debt.

In 2010 both my wife and I cut up all our credit cards after paying them off. So now the only cards we have are our debit card and license in our wallets. The only debt we have is our mortgage. I like the idea of paying cash.

However, after 240,000 miles, our SUV gave up the ghost. We were saving for a replacement but we weren't ready yet. After the sticker shock wore off (our 2003 Expedition was 35K and the new one was almost 45K) we had to finance 8K. (OUCH!!!)

We knew our score was low because we aren't in debt up to our eyeballs, but we did get a nice 1.9% rate because of the boatload of cash we put down.

I still don't know what my score is, and I really don't care. I am a Life Lock member "just in case", but I just don't understand the constant need to know my score.

@Christopher_H - Unfortunately, today your credit is used for a lot more than simply going into debt. I am not a big fan of FICO, in fact, I absolutely despise their system. But when I was bonded it was based off of credit, insurance rates are based off credit, deposits for utilities are based off credit, and all of this ignores the fact that it is exponentially harder to get out of debt with bad credit.

Having said all that, going into debt is not necessarily a bad thing. I prefer to have a lot of low interest financing and money, as opposed to no low interest financing and no money. I carry about 4 times my total household annual income in low interest debt. On the surface this might seem bad, until you realize that I have about 10 times my annual income in non retirement investments. My effective interest rate on all my debt is about 2%, the effective yield of my investments is about 6.5% (it has been a lot higher lately but I am looking over a longer time, and I am crazy conservative with some of my investments.) That spread means that I get an additional 18% of income per year as opposed to paying that off. I make decent money so that spread is more than many families live on.

It is a great story, but none of those things you mentioned have anything to do with what I was talking about. None of things I talked about have ANYTHING to do with how much money you make, or how much you spend, nor how important having things is to you. The math works the same for a trash collector and a doctor.

Given two scenarios, both assume you have the cash available - (1) Pay cash for your home and cars, (2) Use low interest loans for your house and cars. The second scenario is more financially sound right now. I am not saying that will always be the case but lets take a look at the math right now. Let's take a worst case scenario, you only make $25,000 per year. Your rich uncle died and left you $125,000. You are deciding between paying 25k down and financing 100k, or paying 125k and financing none.

Suppose you are super conservative because you are broke, so you only want to invest in very safe municipal bonds, and a 15 year mortgage. Over the next 15 years your payments will total $124,304.70 on your house and your distributions from the municipal bonds will be $148,450.00. You have just created wealth out of thin air and you are at less risk with investment than you are with the house. Houses go down a lot more often than properly diversified portfolios. The added bonus is, suppose something goes tragically wrong with your life. Houses are important but you can't eat them. You can't just use the funds of the house to get back on your feet if you can't work for 4 months, but you can with the investment.

Now suppose you are willing to take a bit more risk, so you go 50% municipal bonds and 50% equity securities, staying broad market funds (you are still very conservative.) You will still pay $124,304.70, but now your distributions are $191,725.00. You are creating even more wealth and are still extremely safe.

Now assume you can let the funds compound, because you make enough money to make your house payment without using any of your originally invested funds or the distributions. Now sticking with the second method investments (you will take a little more risk as you can make the payments) you get $249,658. You now have double what you paid.

I am ignoring the mortgage interest deduction because you don't even pay taxes at this income. Also I am ignoring the lower interest you get on cars but that would only help the calculation.

I am not talking about spending habits or anything else. I specifically said low interest rate financing. I put everything on my credit card and it has been probably 10 years since I paid a single penny in interest. I drive a brand new car, I stay in cars 3 years old or less and the total amount I pay over 10 years for all 3.3 of my $54,000 cars is $45,500. Being financially savvy is not a function of how much money you make, it is a function of educating yourself. Admittedly, as an accounting and finance professor (who left his high paying corporate job to return to school for a job I love) I may be more educated than most, but I am willing to share.

Like I said, if that works for you, fine. It doesn't work for me. I now pay cash for everything. We still make almost 6 figures, but see no need to spend it on "things" anymore. So I don't need to care what my credit score is anymore.

I have never been happier, and my blood pressure has never been lower. And it's sooo nice to live in a place where you don't have to lock your doors.

These are not correlated things. Here is something correlated. If you credit score is bad, you pay more for things you must have. The simple act of maintaining your credit will allow you to pay less for items that you are either required to have or want.

Blood pressure, spending, all that jazz that you are touting has nothing to do with debt. I am 45 years old, I don't lock my doors, I make well into the six figures, I work 20 hours per week, get 20 weeks of vacation a year, can't get fired from my job, I travel a lot when I am not building furniture (my hobby), and I spend at most 70% of what I bring home, so my blood pressure is pretty damned good. You have made an assumption that because I don't mind debt that I must spend too much, well people who spend too much don't usually get ten years of salary tucked away in savings.

I think you are trying very hard to say, that it doesn't matter how much you make, it is how much you spend that is important. While that is true, it has nothing to do with debt, and even less to do with checking your credit score.