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Free Credit Report

19 years ago

I was wondering if any of the online "Free Credit Report" offers are legitimate and if so, which ones? I'm reluctant to give the personal info needed to get the report if this is a scam. If these aren't on the up and up how would I go about getting my report?

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Comments (5)

myfask
19 years ago
mare
The one we use is
www.annualcreditreport.com

This is also the one many of the experts recommend
The credit reports are free, if you want your scores it is a few dollars.
If you don't know or haven't check your score in the last 2 years it might be a good idea to spend the few dollars.

I know a few folks that said "I pay my bills on time so I have a good score" imagine their surprise when it was low.

knowing your score can help if you are looking for a loan you can tell the lender "based on this score what would the rate be?"
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
19 years ago
below is a link to some great info too. It also includes the link to get the reports.

Here is a link that might be useful: Federal Trade Commission-Facts for Consumers
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more importantly is does the NEW card number show the original open date or teh date that you got the new card? for example, i had my wallet stolen several years ago. i reported all my cards stolen and got new ones. Discover and First USA both reported the old numbers as lost/stolen and teh new ones with a open date of when i got the cards. this decreased my FICO instatnly because i lost several YEARS of age on my TL. if you wish to see you current score, the ONLY place to get the real score is to go to MYFICO.com and pay for it. remember, if it does not SPECIFICALLY say this is a FICO score, then it is an inhouse score for whatever service you are using and may differ greatly to teh good or to the bad from you rreal scores that lenders look at.
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How frustrating! I'd continue to call them and pursue it. After sending them proof of Social Security once, I'd have stopped. But if they make you send it a 3rd time I'd do it by certified return receipt mail and ask them what happened to the other 2 submissions and who had access to it. I just requested my free annual credit report online from Transunion & Equifax. With Transunion I had a terrible time filling in the necessary information to verify who I was before getting the actual report. Good luck in your endeavor.
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Get your free annual credit reports from https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ But DON'T pay any attention to the credit scores! They are fakos (just a guesstimate and can be off by as much as 100 points!) And yes, you should pull your credit reports from all three bureaus! Click on the links and it will basically walk you through it. Be prepared to answer verification questions about loans, payments and such. If you enter the wrong info, you will have to then get them by mail, possibly. To pull all three credit reports after getting the freebies, you can go with either http://www.truecredit.com for 14.95 per month (you are allowed to update reports every 24hrs and 1min). Another place to get them with your real fico scores are http://www.myfico.com I'm on the free forums there at myfico and absolutely love it!
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if YOU pull your credit it does not count against you. If you apply for a credit card or a loan and THEY pull it, then it does count against you, though only slightly. your free credit reports do not give you the credit score, they list everything on your credit except the score. you have to pay about 9 bucks or so for the score. the link below is for access to your report from all 3 agencies. you can pull all 3 now, or 1 at a time over the next year. you are only allowed 1 report from each agency per year. Here is a link that might be useful: Free credit reports with no card required
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moonshadow
18 years ago
I use annualcreditreport.com as well. No gimmicks there.

If you want to monitor your credit several times a year you can do it there for free.

Example: get a report from Equifax now. Free.
Get a report from TransUnion in 4 months (still free because you're entitled to 1 free report per year from each of the 3 credit bureaus.
4 months later get a report from Experian.
4 months later you are starting year #2. Repeat the cycle starting with Equifax again because by now it has been 1 year since you got your 1st report from Equifax so it's free again. ;)
dave_donhoff
18 years ago
Hi Mare,

Checking your credit on a scheduled regularity is just as important to your safety & wealth as having dental & physical checkups is to your health.

You can get your basic account reports for free directly from each of the three major bureaus (Transperian, Equifax and Experian.)

You'll want to get a full tri-merge report that includes your actual credit scores (3 total per person, one from each bureau,) and the 'reason codes' (4 per score) that detail why each score is calculated as far below the perfect 850 as it is. These are basically only available through a mortgage loan officer (usually a broker,) so having a good relationship there is a healthy/wealthy idea.

Luck!
Dave Donhoff
Strategic Equity & Mortgage Planner
mare_wbpa
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks to all of you for the excellent information and advice. I sincerely appreciate it.

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