You might wonder why people are so adamant about getting good credit scores. If you must know, though, credit scores play an important part in a person’s financial life.
Many people may not think so much about their credit scores, but the truth is, it matters. Credit scores can be the reflection of what type of person you are when faced with financial transactions. This shows that you are a responsible person when it comes to managing your credits and debts.
However, as the days go by, it becomes challenging to keep up with your credit management. Not only will you have to manage that, but you will also have to manage the usual day-to-day struggles. Your job. Your relationships. Your family. Your life.
So how can you keep up? Try these free credit score apps that help you boost your credit score.
Table of Contents
Credit Karma
Cost: Free
Platform: iOS, Android, PC
Link: https://www.creditkarma.com/
Key Features: Credit Scores and Reports, Federal and State Tax Preparations and Loan and Credit Card Recommendations
Established in 2007, Credit Karma has been the first to offer people to check their credit scores for free online, making them one of the largest and relied on credit score monitors of today. It is equipped with many useful tools that people can use to improve their credit scores.
Those tools are credit score monitoring, tax preparations, and recommendations for credit card and loan applications. And the good news? They offer all of these for free! When you accept one of their recommendations regarding credit cards of any loan, they’ll get a commission, and that more than enough for them.
Note: Your credit report will be based on a VantageScore 3.0 provided by TransUnion and Equifax. The credit score given is not a FICO score.
Credit Sesame
Cost: Free
Platform: iOS, Android, PC
Link: https://www.creditsesame.com/
Key Features: Credit Scores and Reports, Identity Theft Protection, Real-Time Monitoring and Alerts, and Finance Management
Credit Sesame offers you free a peek at your credit score, real-time monitoring alerts, finance management, and identity theft feature to its users. It also summarizes debt payments for the month and gets to list your total debts and balances. Not only that, but they also get to give the users advice and steps on how to boost their credit scores.
Note: Your credit report will be based on a VantageScore 3.0 provided by TransUnion. The free credit score given is not a FICO score.
Mint
Cost: Free
Platform: iOS, Android, PC
Link: https://www.mint.com/
Key Features: Budgeting, Track and Pay Bills, Credit Score Report, Investment Tracking
Mint is originally made to be a budgeting app founded in 2006. However, due to many people complaining about having to make “hard pulls” to check their scores along with the establishing of free checking of credits scores, Mint began offering free credit score checks to its users for free.
Checking your credit score in Mint is considered a “soft pull,” which won’t affect your credit score no matter how many times you check. Other than checking your credit score, you can also live your life budgeting your money and track investments and bills with Mint.
Note: Your credit report will be a proprietary model of a credit score provided by Equifax. The credit score given is not a FICO score.
Credit.com
Cost: Free
Platform: PC
Link: https://www.credit.com/
Key Features: Credit Scores Report and Report Card, Educational Articles, Interactive Financial Tools
Founded in 1995, Credit.com has been the go-to for people looking for assistance regarding their credit scores, credit reports, credit repairs, and credit cards. Now that business has spread from offline to online, Credit.com continues its service to people through its website.
One of the unique features that Credit.com features for its users is credit report cards. The company assigns grades to categories regarding your Payment History, Debt Usage, Credit Age, Account Mix, and Inquiries. Additionally, it also features a range of your results from other types of credit reports.
Note: Your credit report will be based on a VantageScore 3.0 provided by Experian. The credit score given is not a FICO score.
myFICO
Cost: Free trial
Platform: iOS, Android
Link: https://www.myfico.com/
Key Features: Credit Score Report and Monitoring, FICO Score, Interest Rate, and Credit Alerts
myFICO is one of the only companies that can provide credit score reports from the three credit bureaus. myFICO may have something that other credit monitoring apps don’t have. And that is providing its users with the real FICO score. Moreover, it also boasts a record of having few security flaws.
However, myFICO has its share of ups and downs. myFICO may offer many valuable features that other apps couldn’t give to customers for free. But after the free trial is done, you will have to pay to continue reaping the app’s benefits.
Why should you try out these apps?
Because most people can’t afford to pay approximately $15 a month to check how their scores are doing, they refrain from checking it out to save money. However, through the years, those people suffer from bad credit scores. Reasons range from not monitoring their activities regularly (because they can’t afford it) to mix-ups caused during filing and encoding data.
All seemed too good to be true. What’s the catch?
All these services are free and helpful. However, bear in mind that they do not represent your real FICO score. These apps present you with your credit score report based on one of the three credit bureaus: TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. These credit reports serve as a guide for people who want to know the status of their credit scores to take some necessary steps should they want to improve them.
Conclusion
Millennials shouldn’t be the only ones who will reap the benefits that technology and the internet could offer. Whether you are a Millennial, a Baby Boomer, or a Gen-Xer, it doesn’t matter. All of us are entitled to check and manage our scores wisely using these credit score apps.
And since it was mentioned that credit scores are more than just a three-digit number and can affect many important aspects of your life. You must monitor and manage your credit score wisely and take them seriously.
