The financial reform bill passed by the U.S. Senate could give consumers free access to credit scores, on top of government-provided free access to annual credit reports. Shazia Khan filed the following report.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act entitles consumers to receive a free annual credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies. A new piece of legislation could take this a step further.

If the far-reaching financial reform bill recently passed in the U.S. Senate ends up becoming law, consumers will also have free access to credit scores.

However, Adam Levin, the co-founder and chairman of Credit.com, says it will only serve a particular consumer base.

"If you've been declined for a loan or if you've gotten a loan at a disadvantaged rate, then you get to see your credit score for free and you get to see the credit score that was the actual basis of that decision, because there are many different kinds of credit scores," he said.

A handful of credit score measuring agencies, like FICO, distill all of the information from your credit report into a three-digit number. They generally assess elements such as credit history, payment patterns, debt-to-credit ratio, number of credit lines and account inquires.

Michael Goodman, a financial planner, certified public accountant and president with Wealthstream Advisors, says over the years the score has become even more critical.

"The reality is the credit score is something that lenders look very close to and be very hard and fast on making a decision," said Goodman.

With lending still tight, experts say you shouldn't wait until you have been denied or have received an unfavorable rate to review your credit score.

"Reach out to whoever you are applying for this loan with and ask them, 'What credit scores are you going to use? Are you going to use an average? Is it a high, low or middle?' And then you can perhaps do some research to understand what factors affect the credit score companies that you'll be working with," said Goodman.

Then work on keeping your credit in good shape

"So what consumers really need to do is they need to make sure they pay on time. They should bring down the balances on their credit cards in a deliberate, intelligent way," said Levin. "They shouldn't close accounts just because they have paid them off, because closing accounts could negatively impact your credit score and in general people need to look at credit reports to get credit scores."

Do your due diligence to better understand all the data, because no one has a greater stake in your finances than you.