Your credit score is one of those things that's really annoying, but very critical to surviving in our economy (like it or not). Regardless of whether that number is something to be proud or ashamed of, you definitely need to keep an accurate idea of where it sits. That's where WalletHub comes in, the newest kid on the Android block to offer you a free peek at your score. The company has been around for a few years, but its app does so much more with the catch of being completely free.

Since this app requests certain sensitive, identifying information, we at AP think it to be obvious that personal research is highly suggested here. I did not find anything about WalletHub or the app that concerned me, but that is a decision you have to make for yourself.

I'll be honest and start off by saying that I really didn't want to know my credit score, but I downloaded the app anyway. It's not too in-depth of a sign-up process, but it will ask for things like your annual household income, where your social security number was issued (it asks for the last four digits), and things like that. Once you get in, you're greeted with a dashboard that presents you with your most recent credit score, a list of all of your debts, and a section for future plans (buying a house or car, opening a new credit card, or getting a loan). For some, this is the most depressing part — especially students because it does pull in your student loans.

The next two sections are for credit alerts (which are monitored 24/7) and a more detailed analysis of your credit score. This latter part involves various letter grades on different contributors to your score: payment history, collections, credit utilization, and so on. Those letter grades come with a little snippet each on how you got that score, which is nice if you want to understand how something affects you.

Following this, there is the report section. This breaks down your open accounts (and gives you how many you've closed), your hard credit inquiries, and any collections or public records. Each account can be expanded to show a slew of information such as credit limit, age of the account, type, and payment history. All of this is insanely useful if you don't want to jump between multiple different institutions to get a handle on your debt. The only bummer is that you can't make your monthly payments from the app, but I can understand that limitation.

WalletHub also gives you some credit card offers it thinks would be beneficial for you. Whether you're looking for a better low-interest rate one or ready to add another account to your profile, some of them might be of interest to you. Finally, the settings menu lets you control how the service notifies you of credit issues, how much private info you give it (for those "savings" offers), and login settings (2FA is supported).

You can download WalletHub for free in the Play Store, but there is the disclaimer that it's still in testing — I've only noticed some sluggishness on certain things like the full reports, which makes sense. It is touted as being a 100% free service with no credit card required similar to Credit Karma (they both use TransUnion and the VantageScore model). Security is noted as 128-bit SSL encryption if that's something that interests you.

Debt management is super important, so anything that helps is okay in my book. However, we at AP trust you to do your own research on companies like WalletHub to see if you're willing to provide them with some sensitive information. I found nothing concerning here for me personally, but that's a decision only you can make.