How to Check Your FICO Score With Citibank

Want to check your FICO score and have a Citibank credit card? Well, you’re in luck, as Citibank offers a free FICO score for all cardholders of Citi-branded cards.

You can view your FICO score by following this link and logging into your account. Or if you’re already logged in, you can just click on the “Your FICO Score” tab to the right of your deposit information, and it will take you to the page with all your score information, including a list of the key factors affecting your current score. You can also see your score in the Citi mobile app.

Here’s what you need to know:

• It’s an Equifax score. Citi was the first big bank to provide an Equifax based score. Below we’ll discuss other banks that offer free credit reports from the different bureaus.
• The scale of the score is from 250 to 900, not the 300 to 850 you’re used to. This is because Citi is showing you the specific score used for credit card accounts. FICO offers a separate scoring model for credit cards that helps banks better target customers for the unique demands of a credit card. That score ranges from 250 to 900, rather than the 300 to 850 range you’re used to seeing, and Citi has decided to let you see the very score it uses.
• There is no historic data. You are given a static score with the date the score was last updated by Citi.
• You need a Citi-branded card to get the free FICO score. So if you, for example, have a store credit card from Citi, you won’t be eligible for this score benefit. But if your card has the Citi logo on it, you’re good to go.

How can I compare this score to others?

Because this score is different from the 300 to 850 scale you see on most credit reports, you might be confused.

Just focus on the range your score falls in, and you can easily convert it to scores you’re used to.

Here’s how the Citi credit card score compares to other scores you might be used to seeing:

• Poor: 579 or less (579 or less for typical scores)
• Fair: 580-699 (580 – 639 for typical scores)
• Average: 670-739 (640 – 699 for typical scores)
• Good: 740-799 (700 – 749 for typical scores)
• Excellent: 800+ (750 – 850 for typical scores)

So, for example, if another credit resource, such as Credit Karma’s Transunion score, shows you as a 770, but your Citi score shows you as an 820, don’t worry. You are in the ‘Excellent’ score range for both.

What are other ways to view my FICO score for free?

Free real FICO scores are a great thing to have access to, because you can quickly diagnose errors that may arise across the three credit bureaus. Of course you should always request your free full annual credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com (the only government-endorsed truly free source for credit reports) and check for errors. But getting regular updates from your bank will keep you even more on top of things.

If you aren’t a Citi cardmember, there are numerous other ways to check your FICO score for free, across all three credit bureaus.

Here are some of them:

• Citi isn’t the only place you can check your Equifax score. DCU Credit Union offers a free Equifax score for its members, as does PenFed.
• If you have an account with American Express, Discover, Wells Fargo or First National Bank of Omaha, you can secure access to your Experian score. In fact, you don’t even have to have a Discover card in order to get access to this score; you can simply sign up at Creditscorecard.com.
• If you have any Barclays credit card, you can gain free access to your TransUnion score. Bank of America offers access with select credit cards, and you can also view your TransUnion score if you have a Walmart Credit Card, Walmart MasterCard or Sam’s Club Credit Card.

There are also several services that offer free regular credit monitoring. MagnifyMoney’s parent company, LendingTree, offers free credit monitoring for anyone who wants to sign up. Keep in mind that LendingTree uses the VantageScore model, which is slightly different from FICO, although the score range is the same.