When is a "free" credit report not really free? It turns out, most of the time.

You've no doubt seen the commercials for "Free Credit Report.com."  While the tune may be catchy, there is a catch. You'll get your free credit report if you log on, but you'll also automatically be charged $15 a month for their reporting service.  And that's nothing more than an alert whenever someone searches your credit history.

The place to go for your free credit report that's actually free is the government mandated site, "Annual Credit Report.com."

But one thing that also affects your financial life is your credit score.  You can get your FICO score on annual credit report.com. But it'll cost you $8 to see it.

The site Credit Karma offers you a free score. Problem is, that score isn't the one used by lenders.

Trans Union and Experian both offer scores not used by lenders and a credit report. But again, you have to sign up for $15 a month credit monitoring service with both credit reporting agencies to get it. You do have a certain amount of time to cancel on each site.

You can get your FICO score used by lenders from Equifax, but it'll cost you $15 a month to access your score four times a year.

"My FICO" will also give you the score you need, but you're required to pay $90 a year for monitoring to get your score and credit report for free.

Millions of people have signed up for credit monitoring services, many don't even know it. Most people don't need it either. It's a fast growing niche industry with a billion dollars in sales.

The Federal Trade Commission has fired back with its own parody commercial of "Free Credit Report.com" to try to direct people on where to go to get their report that's really free.

The only way to get the score actually used by lenders without paying for it is to ask your lender what it is.