As we’ve mentioned previously Citibank are offering free FICO scores, these scores should now be accessible to Citi cardholders. You’ll be able to access these free scores if you have a consumer Citi / AAdvantage credit card, there are two exclusions:
- Business credit card holders will not have access to this score
- Citi Prestige credit card holders will also not have access to this score
This score will be based on your Equifax credit report and is the same score that Citi uses in their credit card lending decisions/approval process. This is an industry specific score (bankcard enhanced 2008 model) and has a different range to the classic FICO score.
- Classic FICO score range: 300-850
- Bankcard enhanced FICO score range: 250-900
You’ll be able to access this free score by logging into your Citi account, it will be under the “Card Benefits” area. This score will only be available to the primary cardholder, any authorized users or secondary card holders will not have access to this benefit.
A few days ago an announcement was made by President Obama that a number of other credit card issuers would be offering free FICO scores as well. Here is the run down of who is doing what:
- American Express is currently running a pilot program before deciding whether or not they will offer this benefit to all cardholders. This pilot program is being based on your Experian credit report.
- Bank of America will be offering a free FICO score “sometime later this year”.
- Barclaycard offers a free FICO score to all of their cardholders. This is based on your TransUnion credit report and uses the classic 2008 model.
- Chase will be offering a free FICO score, but this will only be available to Chase Slate credit card holders. This is not currently available but will be available sometime in 2015.
- Discover offers a free FICO score to all cardholders, based on your TransUnion report and uses the 2008 classic model.
- First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) offers a free FICO score to all cardholders. This is based on your Experian credit report and uses an industry specific 2008 model (bankcard enhanced).
- PenFed offers a free NextGen FICO score to all cardholders based on their Equifax credit report.
- Merrick Bank offers a free FICO score to cardholders of their non-secured credit cards. They use the TransUnion bankcard enhanced 2008 scoring model.
- PSECU offer an Experian classic 2004 model FICO score to all of their cardholders, but these cards are by invitation only and you must live in Pennsylvania.
- State Employees Credit Union. Any active lending relationship will qualify you for a free FICO score, they use Equifax for data and the classic 2008 model.
- Walmart has two co-branded credit cards and they both offer a free FICO score. This uses the TransUnion credit report for data and the classic 2008 scoring model.
There are lots of other ways to get access to your FICO score for free, I’d recommend reading this post for a full list of different ideas and methods.
