You can get a free credit score and a free credit report from StellarFi. Here’s what you need to know about accessing your free credit score and reading your free credit report:
What to know about your free credit score on StellarFi
StellarFi provides free access to your VantageScore® 3.0 and your current Experian® credit report. Any adult with a social security number can access a free credit score and report from StellarFi.
How to check your credit score for free
To check your credit score online for free, just sign up for StellarFi and enjoy your 30-day free trial. During the trial, you can check your free credit score and report whenever you’d like.
StellarFi is the best free credit score provider because we can also give you the tools to build and improve your credit just by paying your bills.
How often can you check your credit score for free?
Those who become StellarFi members can view updated credit scores and credit reports at any time during their membership, along with credit-building access, at a fraction of the cost of most credit monitoring services.
Why are my free credit scores from the credit bureaus different from my free credit score from StellarFi?
Credit scores can be confusing enough, but you may be even more perplexed to learn that every consumer has a variety of credit scores—and they don’t always match.
Here are some reasons that your free credit score through StellarFi may not match a score generated by another lender, bureau or credit service:
- The score was generated on different dates
Your credit score can vary depending on whether new information has been added to your report. Each credit bureau updates your score at a different time of month, and reporting can also vary by when a lender or other company reports information to the credit bureaus themselves.
For example, let’s say you pay your debt down by $2000. If Experian updates your credit report and credit score the following day, but TransUnion doesn’t update until the next week, your two scores from each bureau might vary quite a bit.
- Some lenders do not report to all the credit bureaus
It surprises many consumers to learn that lenders are not required to report to all the credit bureaus. Some lenders choose not to report to certain bureaus, and some bureaus may not accept reporting from certain lenders.
As a result, you may have entire credit accounts that do not appear on one or more of your credit reports. This can affect scores that lenders see, if the lender does not pull credit scores from all credit bureaus.
- False or fraudulent information on your credit reports
Incorrect, inaccurate, or false items and information on your credit report can severely damage any credit score that includes information from the compromised report.
For example, if you see a fraudulent credit account on your free credit report that is in collections on your Equifax report, any credit score calculations that use Equifax data will be lower than credit score calculations that do not use Equifax data.
How many FICO scores do I have?
FICO® is a company that provides credit scores and other financial services. FICO scores are a type of credit score, but there is not just one “FICO score” possible for each person.
Instead, there are many different FICO scores that are calculated based on different credit reports and credit scoring models. A consumer may have a different free FICO credit score for each credit bureau and for each type of credit scoring model (such as the FICO Score 8 or the FICO Score 9).
This means that most people can have multiple FICO scores at the same time.
Can you have more than one VantageScore?
Like FICO scores, VantageScore® is a type of credit score. But there is not just one “VantageScore” per person. Various VantageScore calculations are based on different credit reports and credit scoring models.
For example, a person may have a different VantageScore for each credit bureau and for each type of credit scoring model. The two most common VantageScore models are currently VantageScore 3.0 and VantageScore 4.0.
What does my free credit score mean?
When you check your credit score online for free with StellarFi, you’ll also be able to view your full credit report. This credit report contains the information that determines your score. Here are the factors that determine your credit score:
- Payment history (about 35% of your score)
Your payment history is the most impactful factor in determining your credit score. Paying your bills on time will build your score quickly, and paying them late will damage your score even more quickly.
Traditionally, only credit card and loan payments count toward your payment history. With StellarFi, you can improve your payment history by paying your other recurring expenses like your rent, utilities, streaming services, gym memberships, and more.
- Credit utilization ratio (about 30% of your score)
Credit utilization ratio is a fancy name for “how much debt you owe vs. how much credit you have available.” You may also see this ratio referred to as your credit usage ratio or your debt-to-credit ratio. A credit ratio under 10% is ideal. Anything over that can be detrimental to your credit score.
- Credit age (about 15% of your score)
Your credit age tells lenders how much experience you have with credit. It’s calculated by looking at the age of your oldest credit account based on the date it was first reported.
- Credit mix (about 10% of your score)
Your credit score improves when you have a greater variety of credit accounts. Lenders like to see that you have experience with both installment loans (like student loans or auto loans) and revolving lines of credit (like credit cards).
- New credit (about 10% of your score)
Opening a lot of new accounts in a short period of time looks fishy to lenders. A minimal amount of new credit accounts is preferable when it comes to your credit score.
You can check on all of these factors in your free credit report from StellarFi. We’ll also help you automatically raise your credit score if it could use some love.
How to check your credit score for free with StellarFi
Many consumers know that it’s important to be aware of their credit score, but still wonder… “how can I check my credit score for free?”
Luckily, StellarFi makes it easy to perform a free credit score check.
Just create a free account with StellarFi, and follow the instructions to view your free credit score and credit report.
Check my credit score for free
