SCHAUMURG, Ill. -- The Experian Group Ltd., one of the nation's three big credit reporting bureaus has announced that it is pulling out of a deal that allows consumers to see their credit scores for free.

Experian notified the Fair Isaac Corporation that it would no longer participate in the company's MyFico.com Web site where consumers have been able to access credit scores FICO uses from Experian, as well as Equifax and Transunion. Equifax and Transunion will continue to provide their scores through MyFico.

Fair Isaac has made more than 23 million credit reports available to consumers though MyFico since 2001, the company said.

"It is important to understand that the majority of lenders will continue to use FICO scores based on Experian data to make creditworthiness decisions, but those FICO scores based on Experian data will not be available via www.myFICO.com, nor any other public venue," Fair Isaac announced to consumers.

Experian has not yet returned calls to comment on its decision, but a company spokeswoman has blamed the decision on a "non mutually beneficial" relationship between the two companies in news reports.