Best way to gt my free credit reports?

[Never Again]

Is there a way to access my free credit reports without being subject to giving my credit card info and being signed up for a reporting service that I will then have to cancel since I don't want it?

Just wary of any site where I have to submit my credit card info like that.

[Brian]

I know of only one "official" site as friend just asked me to check for her. I would be wary of most any other as you are granting right to distribute your credit to marketing firms is how their business model was explained to me.

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/requestForm?from=landing

read wiki and US Fed site to check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annualcreditreport.com

[fidgiegirl]

+1

Have done it several times and this is the site to use.

[Never Again]

I know of only one "official" site as friend just asked me to check for her. I would be wary of most any other as you are granting right to distribute your credit to marketing firms is how their business model was explained to me.

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/requestForm?from=landing

read wiki and US Fed site to check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annualcreditreport.com

Brian;

Thanks for the info.

I just went there and printed out reports from all three. What I had not expected was that while the reports were free I had to pay to actually get my credit score.

So I paid twice, once each with Experian and Equifax.

The other odd thing is that Experian gave me a score of 915 on a scale of 501 to 990. But Equifax gave me a score of 803 based on a scale of 280 to 850.

I had thought that a credit score was an "absolute" number but evidently each agency has a different scoring scale?

[Brian]

Their algorithms are propriety and do differ... they were once explained to me, but only recall strength/weakness comp from perspective of a lender at due diligence conf. Not my area of concern so did not mentally file info. You can Google the scoring if you feel to see where you rank with others and what each level means to a lender?

[eleighj]

Ditto; this is the site to use. I would suggest getting one every four months from either Transuion, Experian or Equifax; depending upon which one you have not accessed within the last 12 months. That way you can see if anything changes over time.

Ed

[Never Again]

Ditto; this is the site to use. I would suggest getting one every four months from either Transuion, Experian or Equifax; depending upon which one you have not accessed within the last 12 months. That way you can see if anything changes over time.

Ed


Thanks that is good advice. But is there one score that is more important or more universally recognized, given that the scores seem to vary significantly from the different agencies.

And then I read somewhere that the "FICO" score is actually the most important. I went to the myFICO website and had to submit my credit card info for a "free" trial only to discover that it would be $19.95 to actually get my FICO score. Does anyone know whether the FICO score is important or different from the others?

Thanks

[eleighj]

If I understand it correctly; Fair Isaac Corporation or FICO provides the algorithms to all credit reporting agencies. I imagine that each agency has a different tweak to their score; I would go with the scores that you received from Equifax and Experian; they appear to be very similar.

Ed

[jp1]

I used to have a capital one credit card that I never used, but it gave me instant access to my fico score for free. And with no annual fee. So I kept it around for years just for the fico score access. A couple of years ago they sent me a letter saying they were eliminating the free credit score so I closed the account.

Does anyone know of any other cards that offer this benefit for free? I used to know of a web site that you could search for credit cards with different benefits, such as low interest rate balance transfers, etc. But it's been years and I have no idea what it was.

[The Storyteller]

Each company has its own scoring system. There is only one FICO score, and I'm pretty sure the ones you got ain't it. You need to go to myfico.com for that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FICO_score#FICO_score_and_others

[iris lily]

Please tell us why you are chasing your credit score. Why does it matter to you?

[herisf]

Just like blood pressure, a credit score is a number that changes constantly. Every time you pay or don't pay a bill, or are late with a payment, or whatever, your credit score changes. You are currently in or above the 800s, which is fabulous. I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep paying your bills in a timely manner, watch your credit utilization (how much you've charged vs your credit limit on each card), and you're gold.

Like the others above, I too pull my credit reports from annualcreditreport.com every 4 months, one credit agency each time. I just put which agency for that month on my calendar, so that I keep the order straight for the next year.

[Never Again]

Please tell us why you are chasing your credit score. Why does it matter to you?

At this point for no other reason that to start tracking so that I know where I stand..no surprises down the road. What got me started was that my girlfriend has been looking at buying and financing a car, I have been going with her to look, and the subject of credit scores has come up. So I decided it was time to check mine even though I do not need to apply for any loans.

I do find it perverse that closing out unused credit cards will lower your score. I have a total of four cards, only one of which I use regularly. One of the others I have had since 1991 so I would never close that one. I would like to close one of the other two that I do not use but I will hold off for now.