I’m a very big fan of both budgeting and tracking spending.  Years ago I used to use Microsoft Money to do this until Microsoft decided to kill it off (RIP, tear).  So, since about 2008 I’ve been using the free online service Mint.com with general success.

Today I logged into Mint and noticed a new notice on the front page – Free Credit Score.

Now, I’ve been monitoring my credit and score for years – ever since I drug my score and self worth from the brink of credit death.  But I was intrigued by the idea of getting my score for free, as I
now pay for it, and having it all integrated into my favorite tracking tool.

I started by doing a cursory background check of the terms of use and FAQs.   It seemed that there wasn’t anything too threatening, and outside of probably getting a few more spam emails from their partners or ads for credit cards on the entry page there wasn’t much to fear.

So I completed the simple online form and security questionnaire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And voila!

Mint comes back with a very clean page with your score in exceptionally large font at the top – that would have scared the hell out of me back in the 500 days…

Further down the page it covers items like Credit Card Usage, Payment History, Age of Credit, etc.  And for each it provides not just the information in a very clear format but also how you rank from Poor to Excellent in that category and some notes on how to improve.

Then, of course, at the bottom they make their pitch for the Mint Credit Monitor (by Equifax) for $16.99 a month.  That’s a bit higher than other services but not exorbitant, and it’s billed monthly without commitment.  It’s also pretty nice to have it all built into Mint versus yet another site that you have to remember the login details, but I haven’t pulled the trigger at this point.

Have you tried Mint’s new Credit Center yet?  What are your thoughts?