Wells Fargo and Discover Card say they now provide free credit scores along with Barclaycard and First Bankcard — financial monitoring website, CreditKarma, touts that you can get your credit scores online in minutes — others now offering free scores include the online credit-educational sites Credit.com, Quizzle and CreditSesame.

FICO isn’t the only number used to determine your credit risk — the score that counts is the one your lender uses. There is no single credit score number — the compilers of the widely accepted FICO Credit Score allow lenders to customize their system, so different lenders produce different scores.

A good FICO score is one that exceeds 700. Any amount above that number is generally sufficient to qualify for the lowest available rates on most types of loans, but it is not a one way ticket to being able to take out extraordinarily large loans-your income will have a more significant effect on that.

Citi Free Credit Scores will provide free credit scores to their credit card customers and the bank will begin providing these scores on a monthly basis beginning in January, 2015.

Following the lead of Discover, Barclay’s and Citibank, Chase Bank will begin offering some of its customers their free FICO Score. This access will help consumers determine where they stand before they apply for credit, apartments, cell phones and more. Here’s what you need to know about FICO Scores and how to access them for free.