Free look at credit score if denied loan or job under Senate plan

It's a frustrating situation: You can check out your credit report for free (at annualcreditreport.com), but that resource doesn't give you the one piece of information that's arguably the most important part of the equation: your actual credit score.

Your credit score is vital for everything from getting the best rate on your mortgage to sometimes even getting a job, so not having access to it -- even if you can see your credit report -- deprives you of a very important piece of information for your financial future.

A new amendment to the financial reform bill making its way through Congress would change that. Proposed by Sen. Mark Udall (D-Co.) and voted on by the Senate, the amendment would require you to receive your credit score if you were denied a loan or a job as a result of it. Currently, as the New York Times points out, it could run you close to $50 to obtain your score from each of the three credit bureaus.