Wells Fargo's Free Credit Score Promo & Other Free Credit Score Options

Wells Fargo is offering customers free access to their credit score and credit report through November 15, 2012. One important thing to note is that it's not the real FICO score. Nevertheless, like many other free credit scores that are available, it can give you an estimate about how you're doing with your credit. Even if you don't have plans to apply for a loan, your credit score can be important. A low credit score can result in higher auto insurance premiums. It can also cause you to be rejected when you apply for a bank account as explained in this post on Why Banks Check Your Credit Score for Deposit Account.

Wells Fargo described the details of its credit score offer in its news release:

From Oct. 1 through Nov. 15, 2012, all Wells Fargo consumer customers have complimentary, no-obligation access to their credit score and credit report. Customers can take part in this program by visiting a store and obtaining a unique access code from a Wells Fargo banker. Typically, if consumers wish to check their credit score, they either pay a flat fee or they sign up for a service such as credit monitoring or identity theft protection and pay a monthly fee.

According to San Francisco Chronicle, this is a custom version of the VantageScore. The VantageScore is used by some lenders, but the vast majority of lenders use the FICO score.

Free Credit Score Services

If you're already a Wells Fargo customer, this seems like a good deal. If you're not a Wells Fargo customer, you may want to consider other options to obtain your credit score.

If you have an American Express credit card, you can get a non-FICO score through their service called "My Credit Score & Report". This CreditCardForum post has more details.

There are several services that provide free non-FICO credit scores. One of the best is CreditKarma.com. Allan Roth provided a useful review of this service in this CBS MoneyWatch article. Some of the other services include CreditSesame.com and Quizzle.com.

Free Credit Score from Credit Unions

You can also get free credit scores from credit unions. Digital Credit Union is unique because it offers the FICO credit score. I first reported on this in 2010. One thing that appears to have changed is that to qualify for this free service members must have either the Checking Plus or Relationship Checking. Please refer to this DCU page for more details. Anyone can join DCU. I have more details about membership in my DCU credit score post.

Another credit union that offers its members free credit scores is Alliant Credit Union. However, it's the VantageScore instead of the FICO score. Refer to this Alliant page for more details. Like DCU, anyone can join Alliant Credit Union. I have more details in my Alliant Savings and Checking review.

Credit Report

Don't forget that you can get a free copy of your credit report once a year from each of the bureaus from AnnualCreditReport.com, the website setup by the government. However, this does not provide your credit score.