If you use Discover to access your FICO score for free each month, you soon may have to find an alternative method.
After years of promoting free FICO scores to everyone, the credit card giant recently announced changes to the program, and it removes access for many consumers who rely on Discovery to get their scores.
Team Clark has the details on Discover’s change and some advice for what to do if you’re negatively impacted by it.
Discover Will Offer Free FICO Scores Only to Customers
Discover no longer will provide free FICO score access to non-customers starting in early June, according to an announcement posted on its website.
Service Update: After careful consideration, we’ve decided to retire our credit scorecard offering for prospective customers on June 6, 2022. Registrations will not be accepted after March 1, 2022 and services will end on June 6, 2022. Primary cardholders can view their FICO Score on their statement, Discover.com or the Discover app.
Prospective customers no longer can sign up to get their free FICO score, but those who already have access will be able to review their scores for a few more months.
Existing Discover customers, whether they’re credit cardholders, loan recipients or banking members, should continue to receive free monthly FICO score access on their statements, the app or website.
It appears as though Discover has decided to change its strategy on complimentary FICO score access. Rather than use it as a promotional tool to lure prospective customers, it will instead use it as a perk for existing customers.
Alternative Ways To Access Your FICO Score for Free
If you’re a non-customer using Discover to access your FICO score each month, you may be wondering what your next move should be.
Luckily, you may have a few different options for accessing this same information for free.
If you have a non-Discover credit card, you may find that it already provides you complimentary access to your FICO score.
Here’s a list of credit card issuers that promote free access to FICO Scores are cardholder perks:
- American Express
- Bank of America
- Barclaycard
- Citibank
- Commerce Bank
- Discover
It’s also possible that you have free FICO Score access through your bank or credit union. Sometimes all you need is an open checking or savings account to receive this benefit.
Team Clark has more information on accessing free FICO scores here.
Some Other Ways To Get Your Credit Score for Free
While access to your FICO score is important because it’s the number that most lenders are going to access to make an evaluation of your creditworthiness, there are other scores available for free that could be useful in your efforts to monitor your credit.
The VantageScore is a popular FICO alternative, and there are several places to check it for free.
Team Clark recommends using either Credit Karma or Credit Sesame to access your non-FICO credit score for free.
Credit Karma offers two scores for free: the Vantage Score and another based on your TransUnion credit score.
You can read about the differences between FICO and non-FICO credit scores and money expert Clark Howard’s advice on how to use them here.
Final Thoughts
It’s unfortunate that Discover has decided to discontinue this free FICO score program for non-customers. But it’s understandable.
After several years of using this as a promotional tool, the cost of providing something that typically is a customer perk to all consumers may not be worth it.
That still leaves some consumers in a bind when it comes to finding a FICO score after June 6, 2022. Hopefully, these people will be able to gain access to their score via a bank, credit union or credit card account.
Remember, access to your FICO score is important because it is most closely related to the credit score number that a lender will check when you apply for credit.
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