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#5: Experian Has Cut Consumers Off

Experian, one of the big three credit reporting agencies, recently decided to stop Fair Isaac from selling consumers any FICO scores based on the information in their Experian credit reports. (They still sell those scores to lenders, though).

Let's hope Experian and FICO will work out their differences so that you'll have access to this crucial information again soon. In the meantime, be warned that any score you buy that is based on Experian data is an "educational" score (some consumer advocates call them "FAKO" scores!), which may bear little resemblance to the real thing.

Until this mess is fixed, you can get your Experian credit report for free once a year at AnnualCreditReport.com, then use Credit.com's free "Credit Score Compass" to estimate your score. Learn more about your getting a copy of your report here.