The federal government gives us the right to a free credit report once a year. However, there’s no government mandate for annual free FICO Scores — the credit score lenders most often use to approve credit applications. You may be able to receive a free FICO Score by signing up for another subscription service, but that isn’t always a good option.

It’s important to note that repairing bad credit takes time and there is no quick way to fix a credit score. In fact, out of all of the ways to improve a credit score, quick-fix efforts are the most likely to backfire, so beware of any advice that claims to improve your credit score fast.

So you have some extra money in your pocket and you’ve decided to pay off one of your credit card collections early. You know that credit scores are extremely important so your goal is to pay off the collection that will yield the most credit score improvement — the “FICO ROI” (return on investment).

Your FICO Score is a very important indicator of how well you’re doing credit wise. FICO Scores can be retrieved at a small cost but there are some ways to obtain your credit report and sometimes your score for free.

Get a credit card with a high limit, keep the balance low and use the credit card to establish a credit history or boost a low credit score. Remember — the more available credit on a credit card, the better.