Banks now giving customers access to credit scores for free

Big banks and credit card companies are increasingly offering customers free access to their FICO score.

Discover Financial was the first major credit card issuer to give its customers access to their FICO scores in 2013.

[...] if you know your score is weak, you can work to improve it and possibly save hundreds of dollars on a future loan, or thousands of dollars on a mortgage.

Because of the lack of availability, FICO estimates that only half of Americans have accessed their score in the past year and far more don't know what their score is.

Some credit card companies, like Chase and Discover, also provide tips on how a customer can improve their credit score, like making sure you don't max out credit cards or miss payments.

The increased availability of free FICO scores could mean decreased revenue for the three main credit agencies — Equifax, TransUnion and Experian — that sell credit scores, credit monitoring and credit reports to consumers.