Some Banks Now Offering Free, Genuine FICO Scores
Banks like Chase and Capital One have gotten in trouble for signing consumers up to sketchy credit monitoring services. You can hardly be blamed for raising an eyebrow over claims banks might offer you a free credit score.
But that’s a couple of banks are now doing for their customers, Consumer Reports says. And not for $11.99 a month, or $19.95 for a one-time peek, but free. They’re even real, honest-to-goodness FICO scores, giving you a benchmark for what many lenders see, rather than other less-used scores.
The service is available to credit-card holders at First National Bank of Omaha or Barclaycard U.S., among the largest credit card issuers in the U.S. They’re updated monthly, and “also come with an explanation of the top two factors driving the score, which gives you useful guidance on how to improve your score,” Consumer Reports says.
This kind of service gives consumers the free insight into their credit status consumer advocates (like us) have been demanding for years.
Everybody should have access to their credit score, and hopefully will soon. You can help make it happen by:
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Asking your bank why they haven’t followed the lead of First National Bank of Omaha or Barclaycard.
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Asking your elected representatives to support the Fair Access to Credit Scores Act of 2013.
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Clicking here to sign a petition to support that law, which would guarantee access to a free credit score.
Do you think your bank should offer free credit scores? If you’ve already asked about it, tell us what your bank told you below or on our Facebook page.
This article was originally published on MoneyTalksNews.com as 'Some Banks Now Offering Free, Genuine FICO Scores'.