How to check your credit score for free?

Checking your credit score regularly is really important, especially if you’re working to improve your overall financial health. A solid credit score can open a variety of doors, including better chances of approval for mortgages and rentals, as well as more favourable terms when it comes to loans.

But if you’ve never checked your credit score before or it’s been a while since you last did, the sheer number of ways that you can check your score can feel a bit overwhelming. With this in mind, we’ve created a guide filled with all the necessary insights. From credit reference agencies to handy credit check apps, we’ll dive into it all.

What is a credit score?

Your credit score is a metric that credit lenders use to decide if lending to you is likely to be a good investment for them. It aims to sum up your financial history and your creditworthiness, and give it a numerical score. In other words, your credit score reflects on how you’ve managed your money and credit in the past.

Monitoring and maintaining a good score is essential, especially when it comes to applying for things such as car loans, mortgages, and rentals. The better your score, the better your chances of acceptance, and the more favourable rates you’ll be offered. It’s worth remembering that lenders all have their own criteria for lending so a good credit score may not always guarantee acceptance.

There’s no such thing as a universal credit score, with different credit reference agencies (CRAs) generating numbers based on their own scoring systems. It’s also worth bearing in mind that many lenders use their own internal scoring metric that may be different to the score you can see when you check with a credit reference agency.

However, the general rule is that the higher the score, the more favourable you’ll appear to lenders, and the easier it is to get a better deal or higher credit. If you have a ‘bad credit score’ with a few of the CRAs, it can make it trickier to get credit in future. If this sounds familiar, then don’t worry - even if your score is less-than-perfect, we might be able to help people who have bad credit with our short-term loans.

How can I check my credit score?

If you want to check your credit report for free, then good news: by law, all CRAs must provide you with a free statutory copy of your report.

For a more in-depth look, you’ll usually need to sign up for a free trial with each individual CRA. If you’re working on boosting your credit score, you may want to consider this - it will help you see how your score was determined, what’s affected it, and make it easy to spot any errors on your credit file.

Just make sure you cancel any free trials before you’re billed for a subscription you don’t necessarily want. Check out our guide to finding and cancelling subscriptions you don’t need for more tips.

And, as always, make sure you check the terms and conditions with any of the below services before proceeding to make sure you know what you’re signing up for.

Experian

You can check your credit score for free on the Experian website. You’ll just need to provide details such as your name, date of birth, email and contact number. However, if you require full access to your report, you’ll need to register for a trial of Experian’s CreditExpert service. Just bear in mind that if you do sign up for a trial, you’ll need to cancel it before the trial period expires - otherwise, it’s £14.99 a month.

TransUnion

TransUnion is the second largest CRA in the UK, and you can check your score in a similar way to the above. Alternatively, you can use the MoneySavingExpert Credit Club to check your TransUnion score – this gives you totally free access to your report and updates you via email whenever your score changes. If you want regular financial health updates instead of a single check, then this might be the best free credit score check for you.

Equifax

With Equifax, like the other CRAs, you can access your credit history by registering for a three-day free trial. After that, you’ll be charged £14.95 per month. You can also check your Equifax credit score and history with ClearScore, who have a free credit health app to help you understand your overall financial profile.

In partnership with Equifax, the money management app Snoop also offers a free credit score check service. In the app, you can easily view and monitor your score. All you’ll need to do is download it and fill in the details required.

CheckMyFile

If you’re wanting to check your TransUnion and Equifax credit reports at the same time, you can do so by using CheckMyFile. Once you’ve signed up for a 30-day free trial with the CheckMyFile credit report service, you’ll be able to compare both reports, identifying any major differences between the two. As before, just make sure to cancel your trial before the 30 days is up if you don’t want to be charged £19.99 monthly.

Check your credit score with your bank

While CRAs offer a quick and easy way to access your score, there are alternative ways to check. For instance, many banks now offer credit scoring built into their mobile apps and online banking services – the following have it built into their apps, using TransUnion’s credit information to generate a score:

• NatWest

• Lloyds Bank

• Royal Bank of Scotland

• Halifax

Which credit check service should I use?

The best service for you will depend on your unique situation, as well as your financial goals. For instance, if you’re hoping to apply for car finance, and you know the lender uses a particular CRA, your best bet will be checking your score with them. Remember, carrying out a score check is important before making big applications of any kind, as it allows you to minimise the risk of being rejected.

As we mentioned earlier, though, having a good score with one CRA doesn’t guarantee that you’ll always be accepted by a certain lender, as any lender might have their own scoring system.

As a general rule, we’d recommend checking with all CRAs at least once a year. Do a deep dive into your report, ensuring all information is up to date and that there are no inaccuracies causing your score to dip. If you notice that it’s dipped significantly for instance, you might be a victim of fraud, in which case you’ll need to dispute any errors as soon as possible.

And don’t worry about over-checking when it comes to your credit score. Any checks will be recorded as soft searches which lenders typically can’t see.

Moneyboat are here to help

If you’ve recently checked your score and it needs some work, but you’re in need of funds to cover an unexpected expense, we offer support to customers across the credit spectrum. So, even if your credit score sits below the ‘good’ category, there’s still a chance we could help.

Offering fair and flexible short-term loans, we assess applications on a case-by-case basis, carrying out thorough affordability checks to ensure you’re a good fit. As a fair and responsible lender, we’ll focus on ensuring you never borrow more than you can comfortably pay back, protecting your credit score in the process.

For a more long-term solution, you’ll need to get to work on boosting your credit score as soon as possible. Not sure where to get started? From disputing inaccuracies to making prompt payments, you’ll find a variety of tips in our guide on maintaining good credit scores.

So, there we have it, our insights on the process of checking your credit score as well as the importance of doing so. From free checks with the three main CRAs to banking apps and other tools, there are a variety of quick and easy options out there. By taking control of your score, you’ll be able to unlock more opportunities and work towards long-term financial stability.

For more insights, make sure to head over to the Moneyboat blog. There you can dive into guides on everything from effective monthly budgeting to getting a mortgage with bad credit.