How To Estimate Your FICO Score Without Paying or Joining Those Free Trials

While one can access their credit report free, well once a year per bureau, the all-important FICO score remains a pay-per-play deal.  There are those free trials which allow you access, but forget to cancel in the appropriate time frame and you are on the hook for a monthly bill or an annual one like the $89.95 myFICO charges.

But if an estimate is good enough for you, try Bankrate.com's FICO tool.  It's the myFICO calculator except without the cost (though they do have some "exclusive" offers to ignore at the end).  What makes the tool especially useful is the ability to see how changing certain variables (e.g., percentage of credit used, how many cards, etc.) can affect your final score.