Your FICO score is available for a fee. Free credit reports do not contain your credit score, although you can purchase it when you request your free annual credit report

The information in your credit report is used to calculate your FICO (the acronym stands for Fair, Isaac and Company) score. Your score can range anywhere from 300-850. Aiming for a score in the 700s will put you in good standing. A high score, for example, makes it easier for you to obtain a loan, rent an apartment, or lower your insurance rate.

Based on the information in your credit report, lenders calculate your credit score so they can assess the risk you pose to them before they decide whether they will give you credit. The higher your score, the less risk you pose to creditors.

A credit report contains information on where a person works and lives, how they pay their bills, and whether they’ve been sued, arrested, or filed for bankruptcy. The Consumer Reporting Agencies gather this information and sell it to creditors, employers, insurers, and others for purposes of profiling each individual who has a Credit Report with their Credit Score. The most common type of Consumer Reporting Agency is the credit bureau.

Your credit report is based on the bills payments you have missed or been late paying, loans that you have paid off, plus your current amount of debt.

Credit reporting is a system lenders use to decide whether or not to give you credit or a loan and how much interest they can charge you for it.