Barclaycard is a global credit card and loan provider, based primarily in the UK. Barclaycard in the United States issues credit cards partnered with over 60 companies and brands worldwide, including retailers like L.L. Bean and Apple to services like Priceline.com and Travelocity.

The Credit Score Simulator lets you see how various financial actions could affect your credit score over time, giving you a credit check for free. Using the Credit Score Simulator, your credit score is free and will not affect your credit score or the information in your credit report. These simulation tools are perfect to check “My Credit Score” — and there are no credit cards required to get your credit score check.

The credit bureaus are more than happy to charge you for your credit score, but you don’t need to pay if you know where to look. There are two major online companies right now which offer consumers a free credit score based on the information found in their credit reports. To be clear, these are not the FICO credit score, which is the industry standard. But the scores are based on the same data and should be a good representation of your FICO score.

The minimum credit score needed for approval varies by store credit card, but it’s not the only criteria used. For example, someone with a low credit score simply because they are new to credit will probably be looked upon more favorably than someone with a low score due to late payments or a charge off.

When a woman received a letter from a debt collecting agency for an $8.97 debt, she began to wonder if it would hurt her credit score. She explains, “Today I received a letter in the mail from a collection agency stating that a DVD I rented from Family Video (probably 5 years ago) has gone to collections. The total that I owe is $8.97. Am I going to get a bad credit score for an unpaid bill of $8.97?! Help would be greatly appreciated — Jillian”