Here are 5 ways to get your credit score for free. Note, all of them are the credit scores developed by the credit bureaus themselves, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, and are not your actual FICO scores. Only the FICO score is used by lenders to determine your credit worthiness. However, you can at least use these credit bureau scores to get a general sense of how good your credit is.

CreditKarma.com: Gives you your TransUnion score. Advertising-supported.

E-Loan: Experian score. Scroll down to “One-Time Credit Snapshots” and “Free Credit Score (Credit Score Only)”

Prosper: Experian score. Information on how to do it here.

LendingClub: Gives you a letter grade score, which you can use this chart to translate to a numerical score.

Washington Mutual Credit Cards: Get your Transunion score when you log in.

Another way these are useful is that if you check in periodically and keep track of the results, you can see how your score fluctuates and try to correlate its delta with any credit-related actions you took during that time. But, if you’re shopping for a loan or a mortgage, you will definitely want to pony up the cash and get your real FICO score.

[via MyMoneyBlog]