Credit report and the missing FICO score

Congress has required that the credit bureaus offer copies of credit reports available for free to individuals, but they did not request that credit scores be included. Consumers are not pleased that they cannot obtain their FICO, or credit score at no charge when ordering a credit report.

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A sharp consumer who wishes to keep a close watch on his or her record can order a credit report every three months, each from a different bureau, and stay on top of his or her financial record. By law, each Individual is now allowed to receive one free copy from each bureau per year. Several years ago, at the insistence of Congress, the three main credit agencies, Trans Union, Equifax, and Experian,, put an Internet site online that allows U.S. consumers to get a copy of their credit reports for free.

Many individuals are astonished to learn that the free document they obtain does not include their score. The FICO score is a useful, tidy, convenient tool that lenders can employ to decide whether or not someone is likely to repay a loan or mortgage. Full documentation is useful, but a lot of lenders just take a brief glance at the score and make their decisions based upon that figure. The score, also referred to as the FICO score, is a three digit figure between three hundred and eight hundred fifty that represents a distillation of a borrower's financial health. Despite the significance of FICO scores, the free versions do not include them. The plan has worked pretty well since going online in late 2004, and now the entire country is eligible for the service.
 

A frequent argument is that people don't pay for copies of their health records, so why should they pay for copies of their financial records? The bureaus were understandably unhappy when Congress mandated that they offer credit reports to consumers, even on a limited basis, for free. Americans have long been unhappy at having to pay for documentation about themselves. The credit reporting agencies earn their living by selling financial information about U.S. consumers.

Lawmakers and the reporting agencies achieved a compromise involving the free distribution of information. The compromise allowed the bureaus to promote financial reports that would leave out the crucial FICO score. If consumers want to obtain their scores, they would have to purchase a copy of their report from the bureaus. The credit reporting agencies would offer credit reports, for free, to Americans on a minimal basis, permitting consumers to obtain one report a year from each bureau.

Consumers can obtain their FICO scores for free if they have recently been declined for a loan application. Some consumers are still complaining, but at the moment this is the best solution offered. The service isn't perfect, but it is, on the whole, a reasonable compromise. Americans are able to see an overview of their financial situations from the bureaus at no charge, while the bureaus' desire to sell information has not been taken away.