Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Calls For Free Credit Scores on Credit Card Statements

Wondering what your credit score is but don’t want to pay for it? If the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has its way, in the future, every credit card company will provide this information for free on your monthly statement.

In recently sent letters to the nation’s top credit card companies, CFPB Director Richard Cordray called for issuers to make credit scores and related content freely available to their customers. The hope is that providing easy-to-access, free credit scores will prompt more Americans to review their credit reports, especially if they notice a change in their score. This way, consumers can detect any errors in their report earlier, and possibly even notice identity theft.

Although consumers are entitled to one free report each year from each of the three major credit reporting agencies at www.annualcreditreport.com, fewer than one in five Americans actually check their credit report in any given year, according to the CFPB.

Currently, three major credit card issuers–Discover, Barclaycard and First National Bank of Omaha–already offer a free credit scoring service to their customers. FICO, the pioneering credit scoring company, late last year partnered with those three issuers to provide free credit scores through its “open access” program.

At the time, FICO said it was also in talks with other banks to provide a free credit scoring service to their customers, as well, though no other announcements have been made as of yet. With the CFPB getting involved, it should provide even more incentive for other banks to begin participating in the program.