Your Monthly FICO Credit Score May Be Free

Just about everybody knows that you can get your FICO credit score for free once a year but some credit card holders will get lucky over the next several months and become eligible to get their FICO credit score for free once a month. A FICO credit score is a snapshot in time of your credit history so being able to check on it as often as you can is to your benefit. Every credit transaction you make and every report from one of your creditors to Fair Isaac and the other credit reporting bureaus can change your FICO credit score.

In January, 2009 Fair Isaac, the company that developed the FICO credit score and which usually charges about $16 for a credit score, completed a deal with the Pennsylvania State Credit Union (PSECU) to provide its 200,000 members with free access to their FICO credit scores once a month

Fair Isaac already offers a similar service to holders of the Sears Solution MasterCard issued by HSBC and to Washington Mutual credit card holders. A Chase spokesman said the company, which has acquired Washington Mutual, hasn’t yet made a decision if it will continue this service.

Even more consumers could be eligible in the months ahead as Fair Isaac inks more deals like these. “The top 10 banks would be on our target list for these kinds of programs,” says Fair Isaac spokeswoman Laura Heinrich.

When you get your credit card statement in the mail it may be worthwhile to check through all those extra inserts you usually throw away without looking at. If your bank makes a similar deal with Fair Isaac to let you check your FICO credit score monthly the announcement will probably be on one those inserts.