Anyone who has recently applied for a mortgage knows that lenders are already looking much more closely at your financial affairs. But soon, they’ll be able to easily delve into the deepest recesses of your financial life, accessing information that never before appeared on your credit report.

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.

It’s important to note that repairing bad credit takes time and there is no quick way to fix a credit score. In fact, out of all of the ways to improve a credit score, quick-fix efforts are the most likely to backfire, so beware of any advice that claims to improve your credit score fast.

Consumers need to know about free credit repair services and what is going on with their credit scores. Most people can check their credit scores online if they are buying a house or new car off the showroom floor and take care of the paperwork right from home. Unfortunately, credit problems can mount up and eventually prevent you from making purchases. Either way, it is worth it to learn how to repair your credit online for free.

Get My Free Credit Report — Find your credit score instantly, by requesting your free credit report with no credit card needed from all 3 major credit bureaus. Strike back against identify-theft by obtaining your credit history and working to remove errors in your data. Take the first step towards repairing your credit history today!