Know Your Credit Rating - Can You Get a Free Credit Score Rating Online | Credit Score : Free Credit Scores and Credit Reports Online

Getting a free credit score rating online today is a fairly simple task. There are websites which give you access to your credit score report and are a very useful tool to avoid unpleasant surprises, especially when you have applied for a loan or are mortgaging your property.

Difference Between Credit Score and Credit Report

A credit score is a numerical value. It is calculated based on the information from your past credit transactions. Usually, landlords, credit companies, banks and other financial institutions make use of this number. Banks and creditors use this number in order to assess the credit risk involved in processing a loan for you. In other words, they are basically assessing your capability of repayment of the loan that they have given you or will be giving you.

Most credit reporting companies use complex mathematical formulae in order to take factors such as payment history, the amounts owed, the duration for which the amount was owed and types of credit among other factors into account.

A credit report however, is a report or a summary of how financially reliable you are. For the most part, this report specifies your previous records of payment of bills and other debts. Credit bureaus or credit reporting agencies such as Transunion, Equifax and Experian usually assess information from institutions like banks and credit card companies and eventually make this information available to third parties. Third parties usually include money lenders and employers.

Which Websites Offer Free Credit Score Rating Online?

Many websites offer credit reports for free and credit scores for a nominal fee. You need to find websites that offer free credit score ratings for free and a little bit of research can help you in this regard.

In some websites, in exchange for obtaining your free credit score rating, you will need to fill up a form and the website will give you access thereafter. Ecompare, Getfreecreditreportnow.net and Experian are other websites that offer free credit scores online.