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.

Free credit scores from your credit card now offer free credit score checks to view your free credit scores instantly. Walmart now offers free credit scores to individuals who hold the Walmart credit card and Citi will begin in January 2015 offering free credit scores to individuals who hold the Citi credit card.

So, what is a FICO Score? It’s a number that is formulated based on your credit history helping lenders evaluate your credit risk. Your FICO Score is used to determine credit offers and interest rates — and now it’s free for you to view.

There are a lot of free credit score offerings out there, and many can be useful, but there are a few things consumers need to know when looking up their credit scores. Some scores are educational — meaning creditors do not use free credit score formulas for making lending decisions — but they can still inform you whether you have good or bad credit.