While it is possible for you to get a free credit report once a year from each of the three major credit bureaus, you often have to pay for your credit score (creditkarma.com offers a free credit score), and for any additional views. (Exception to that is when you are denied credit, in which case the agency used must provide you with your credit report if you ask within 60 days.)

Now, however, it is possible to check your credit report and your score from TransUnion, as much as you want, for six months. The reason? Apparently a clas action lawsuit settlement resulting from TransUnion’s practice of selling consumer profiles to third parties. At any rate, you can go to listclassaction.com to sign up.

Hat tip for this story: My Two Dollars.

While it is nice to get an occasional free credit report or free credit score, getting all three credit reports from the major bureaus at once, complete with credit scores, can get a little pricey. If you are interested in getting all three credit reports and scores in one fell swoop, you can get Credit Complete from MyFico.com. And right now, the company is offering the following discount on the service:

From now through July 31st, myFico is offering online communities a 20% discount on the FICO Credit Complete (all 3 FICO scored and reports) from. Visit http://www.myfico.com/Products/FICOThree/Description.aspx and enter the promo code BLOG20 to take advantage of this special offer.

This could be a good time to get everything at once, and see a complete personal finances snapshot — at least the snapshot of how lenders and others see you.

Because a good credit score can save you thousands in interest charges and affect a variety of aspects of your personal finances, it is important to:

Improve your credit score.

You can get an idea of your credit score for free from Credit Karma. And then you need to take these steps to improve it:

1. Make all payments on time.
2. Lower your debt.
3. Avoid inquiring about getting more debt.
4. Choose debt that is “better.”

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about how if you want access to your credit score, you have to pay for it.

I was wrong. And I’m glad to be.

Ken Lin over at Credit Karma contacted and let me know that there is a free service that allows you to see your credit score — and track how you are doing. It’s his own Credit Karma Web site.

It’s not free to Credit Karma, though. The company pays TransUnion for a copy of your credit score, which is then displayed. So you will have to provide your Social Security Number and identifying information. However, Lin insists, the information is never shared with third parties.

You can login to keep tabs on what your credit score is doing, and the Web site offers a number of helpful hints and information on credit scores and reports in general. Here is a screenshot from the Credit Karma Web site:

You can see where you fit in terms of credit score on a national scale, and you learn about the different scales used by each of the three major credit bureaus. I found this an exciting and helpful personal finances tool.

Since Credit Karma does pay for the credit score (instead of you), the Web site has to make money somehow. It does so through ad revenue and when you click on various offers that are listed on the site, along with your credit score. I think Ken Lin sums it up pretty well with what he told me via email:

We pay for the scores through our advertising revenue much like a Yahoo or Google. With that said, we don’t sell or share consumer information, we just sell advertising space. We think this is a win-win-win. Consumers get free access to something they should have always had. Advertisers get to message consumers without compromising consumer privacy. Credit bureaus continue to make money from the sale of the credit score.

It is important to note that this is just one company’s score, and that others’ scores aren’t on here. But Credit Karma does give you a general idea of where you are at, and that can be very helpful in terms of getting an idea of how you can improve how your personal finances look to banks, employers and landlords.

When used in conjunction with annualcreditreport.com, Credit Karma can be a great tool for monitoring your credit and keeping tabs on your financial history.

image source: screenshot at Credit Karma.