In 2003 the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was modified to allow consumers free access to their credit reports. This amendment to the act is called FACTA, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, and it did not specify credit scores. Since then consumers have been asking – no, begging – for a way to see their credit scores.

Now, thanks to Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) we will soon have the FACS Act, or the Fair Access to Credit Scores Act. Wednesday July 21 the President will sign into law what’s been commonly referred to as FinReg, or the Frank/Dodd Act. FinReg includes Sen. Udall’s FACS Act, which means there will soon be an avenue for consumers to get access to their credit scores, for free.

We’ve been talking about the FACS Act for several months now but it was always with the term “might” or “perhaps” when referring to the prospect of free scores. Now that FinReg will be signed and become law we can start talking about what this will mean for consumers. The FACS Act doesn't mean free scores for everyone. It does, however, mean that those of you who are denied anything at all based on your credit score will get that actual score. And, if you’ve been adversely approved (approved but not the deal you asked for) then you’ll also get your score for free, assuming it was the basis for the decision.

What we don’t know yet, but will soon, is exactly when this part of FinReg becomes effective. It’ll probably be at least 3-6 months before lenders have ample time to modify their adverse action systems to include the scores. That’s a reasonable amount of time. And heck, we’ve waited 21 years to see our FICO scores for free. I’m sure we can wait a few more months.

John Ulzheimer – Credit scoring and credit reporting expert and author, John is the President of Consumer Education for Credit.com. Formerly with Equifax and Fair Isaac, John shares his unique insight of the inner workings of credit scoring models and the credit reporting industry on CreditBloggers.com.