annualcreditreport.com does not sell you your FICO scores. They have come up with some other score. I mistakenly paid for the score when I checked my credit reports for my annual check a couple of months ago. The score I got was some other credit score that the credit reporting companies are selling, which doesn't do anyone much good. There were no major errors on my reports, so I didn't go hunting for the true FICO score.

You CAN access your credit reports for free once a year at annualcreditreport.com, but don't plan on getting the FICO score there.

I pay to have Eqifax monitor my credit (which I decided to do after attempted misuse of my credit card by thieves), and I get FICO scores from them several times a year as part of my subscription. I believe they are the only one of the three credit monitoring agencies that will sell you your real FICO score. Check their web site or give them a call; you can probably purchase that specific item for a modest fee.

You CAN go right to the source....

Here is a link that might be useful: FairIsaac site

use Myfico.com, it is the ONLY place to get the real FICO scores. anything that does not SPECIFICALLY state FICO score is a different score model than lenders use.

i always keep a providian card (zero balance) just to check my fico scores every month for free.

You can get your credit score directly from the three credit reporting agencies or through annualcreditreport.com. Read the Frequently Asked Questions at annualcreditreport.com.

Avoid sites posted by message board spammer cloudy7.

FairIsaac site appears to be one of those imposter sites that the FTC refers to.

Here is a link that might be useful: Federal Trade Commission's consumer credit information

The score that you get from Providian if you have their credit card is not a FICO score. They may call it that, but it isn't. I found that out the hard way and I also read on several credit message boards that it's not accurate.

Myfico.com seems to be the best place to get your scores. DO NOT go to the site recommended by cloudy7...as you can see, it's not the realy myfico.com.

Here is a link that might be useful: MY FICO

Let me clarify about the Providian score...it's from Transunion (I believe) but the score I was seeing on the Providian site didn't seem accurate to me. So I spent the money to get a report and score from the actual Transunion site. Sure enough, on the same day, within an hour of each, the scores were different by over 30 points. The transunion report was more accurate and reflected my true credit score. Not sure why this was but I did it again about 6 months later (yes, I spent money again) and the same thing happened...a difference this time of about 25 points. So if you really want your FICO score, go directly to the source (individual credit agencies) or get all three at once on myfico.com.

if it SAY FICO it IS a true FICO. Transunion's site gives THEIR score, NOT the FICO score used by lenders/creditors. this is called a FAKO score, because it is a FAKE score and though it may be close, it also may be off by over 100 points either direction!

Providian gives a PFICO, which is a true Fico from either TA or Equifax. it is a general fico, NOT weighted towards any one industry. Mortgage companies often ignore certain things on your report, thus making a mortgage FICO differ from the one at myfioc.com. not much difference but it is there. for instance, some companies will NOT allow for authorized user accounts to be included in your credit determination, while a true FICO score does allow (right now at least, there are some many fraud cases related to this that AU is going away this summer).

MYFICO.com is the ONLY place a consumer can get their true FICO scores from each CRA. even going direct to the CRA website you get their "enhanced credit score", NOT the FICO score.

daisycat3, Providian pulls the score on teh first of each month, yet they do not post it until the 3rd week of the month. this causes some discrepency between the PFICO and the FICO from myfico.com.

davidandkasie, so you're saying that my credit scores on Providian and the CRA (or even myfico.com) would change by 30 points in three weeks with absolutely no change to my data in those three weeks? That's doesn't make sense to me. I understand what you are saying, but it just doesn't add up. If Providian pulls it on the 1st and let's say it's the same score as TU/CRA, then when it's posted by Providian 3 weeks later, it's up or down by 30 points, that means that something happened with my credit in those 21 days to change the score (up or down) by 30 points. That's a lot of points in 21 days if I haven't opened any new accounts, haven't closed any, haven't used my cards at all or even made a large payment on what I do owe and haven't fallen behind in any payments. So if the scores equaled on 1st day of the month, why not 21 days later if I did NOTHING at all to change anything on my credit report? I could understand a few points difference, but not the large gap I was seeing.

I realize scores can change daily and your balances, etc. affect everything, but again, that's a large difference. I've had the almost the same myfico.com score (or within ten points) for a full 12-15 months usually.

Just curious. This whole credit scoring system is a mess. They finally allowed the "public" to see our own scores, and now there are so many different versions, we really don't know as much as we want to.

Nothing new in five years? I read in my local online newspaper that Credit Karma is a good professional company. I have no personal experience with them.

Nope - nothing new.
FICO scores are still only available at myfico.com.

No point in knowing your credit score unless you are about to apply for a loan (and they will provide it to you). Use annual free credit reports to see if you have:
High balance to credit availability
Any late payments
Any inaccurate information reported.

If everything else shows green or on-time payment and you are not above 40% of your available credit limits - things should be good.