Many consumers will soon be able to learn their credit score, at no cost, and to have their credit report monitored, also for free.

But consumer advocates say the deal, which results from a stack of privacy lawsuits filed over the last decade, may not be as good as it seems.

TransUnion, one of the nation’s three major credit bureaus, will open the doors for an estimated 150 million Americans on Monday, June 16, Anyone who has had a credit card or loan at any time since Jan. 1, 1987, can get credit monitoring for free for up to nine months, according to a preliminary court settlement.

The catch: The credit monitoring is only for your TransUnion credit report, not from the three major credit reporting bureaus. And the credit score you're going to get is not the FICO score, which is the one most lenders rely on.

It's important to know about your credit score, especially if you have a big purchase coming up, says Linda Sherry, spokesperson for Consumer Action. But don't put too much faith into this score from TransUnion. "Some people call them Fake-O scores," she said.