You can check your FICO score for free through several channels, including your bank, credit card issuer, or directly from Experian and myFICO. Most people already have access to at least one free FICO score and don’t realize it. Here’s how to find yours and what to know about the different versions you might encounter.
Check Your Bank or Credit Card Issuer First
The fastest way to see your FICO score is through a financial account you already have. Several major issuers provide a free FICO score as a standard perk, usually accessible through their app or online banking portal. These include American Express, Bank of America, Barclays, Citi (on some accounts), Discover, and Wells Fargo.
Discover is notable because it provides a free FICO score to anyone, not just its own cardholders. If you don’t have an account with any of the issuers listed above, that’s one option that requires no existing relationship.
One thing to keep in mind: different issuers pull your score from different credit bureaus. Your Bank of America FICO score might come from TransUnion while your Discover score comes from Experian. Since each bureau collects data independently, the numbers can differ slightly. That’s normal. A gap of 10 to 20 points between bureaus is common and nothing to worry about.
Get a Free Score From Experian
Experian lets you sign up for a free FICO Score 8 directly on its website. No credit card is required, and the score updates daily. You just need to create an account and verify your identity. Checking your own score this way is a “soft inquiry,” meaning it has zero effect on your credit.
This is a good option if your bank doesn’t offer a FICO score or if you want a second data point from a different bureau than the one your card issuer uses.
Use the Free myFICO Plan
FICO’s own site, myFICO.com, offers a free tier that gives you a FICO Score 8 based on your Equifax credit file, updated monthly. You won’t get access to your full credit report, score monitoring, or the industry-specific score versions lenders use for mortgages and auto loans, but it’s a reliable way to track your general score over time at no cost.
If you want more detail, myFICO’s paid plans start at $19.95 per month for the Basic tier, which adds your Experian-based scores, a credit report, score monitoring, and industry-specific scores used for auto loans and other lending decisions. The Advanced plan ($29.95/month) covers all three bureaus with quarterly updates, and the Premier plan ($39.95/month) adds monthly updates across all three bureaus plus a mortgage score simulator. These paid plans make the most sense if you’re actively preparing for a major loan application and want to see the exact score versions a lender might pull.
Why Your Score Might Look Different to a Lender
FICO doesn’t produce just one score. There are dozens of versions tailored to different lending situations, and the one you see for free is almost always FICO Score 8, the most widely used general-purpose version. It runs on a 300 to 850 scale. But when you apply for a specific type of credit, the lender may pull a different version.
Mortgage lenders typically use older versions: FICO Score 2 (from Experian), FICO Score 5 (Equifax), and FICO Score 4 (TransUnion). Auto lenders often use FICO Auto Scores, which are optimized for predicting car loan risk and run on a wider 250 to 900 scale. Credit card issuers frequently use FICO Bankcard Scores or FICO Score 8 or 9.
This means the free FICO Score 8 from your bank is a solid general indicator, but it might not match the exact number a mortgage lender or auto dealer sees. The scores are usually in the same ballpark, though. If your FICO 8 is 740, your mortgage-specific score is unlikely to be 680. Think of the free score as a reliable gauge of your overall credit health rather than a precise preview of what one particular lender will see.
FICO Score vs. VantageScore
Many free credit monitoring apps and websites advertise a “free credit score” that turns out to be a VantageScore, not a FICO score. VantageScore is a competing model created by the three credit bureaus. It uses the same 300 to 850 range, and it measures similar factors, but it weighs them differently. Your VantageScore and FICO score can be 20 to 40 points apart, sometimes more.
About 90% of lending decisions in the U.S. use a FICO score, so if you’re checking your score because you plan to apply for credit, a FICO score gives you a more accurate picture of what lenders will see. When you sign up for any free score service, look for the label. It should explicitly say “FICO Score” rather than just “credit score.” If the fine print mentions VantageScore 3.0 or 4.0, that’s a different product.
How Often to Check
Your FICO score updates when the underlying credit report data changes, which typically happens once a month as your creditors report new balances and payment activity. Checking monthly is enough for general monitoring. If you’re actively working to improve your score or preparing for a loan application, checking every few weeks through Experian’s daily-update tool can help you see progress faster.
Checking your own FICO score, no matter how often, never hurts your credit. Only “hard inquiries” from lenders when you apply for credit can have a small, temporary impact. Look up your score as often as you like.