Keep in mind that changes in your FICO score take a long time to occur but if you live by the following guidelines, your credit score will improve over time.

Wells Fargo customers will have free access to one of their credit scores and credit reports until November 16, 2014 in conjunction with the American Bankers Association’s annual campaign “Get Smart About Credit.” It’s the third year of this promotion, according to a news release from Wells Fargo and it requires customers to visit a local bank branch to obtain their personal access codes for the data.

Credit scores — they’re like report cards for grown-ups. It’s a three-digit “grade” you get on a scale that ranges from 300 to 850. Your score indicates your creditworthiness to potential lenders, banks, landlords, insurance companies, and even to some employers, for instance. I’m sure you know that the higher your score the better.

A new credit scoring model will potentially boost scores for many credit applicants and help establish credit for millions of people who previously had little or no credit history. The new scoring model will be used in the latest version of the VantageScore, the credit score created by the three major credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

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.