Credit Report

[Savage Pumpkin]

I am trying for the first time to get a credit report for myself. I just got credit last year and have a feeling I may have a unjust mark. My question is that there are so many companies online that do this. Alot of them have been targeted as scams and such. So knowing there are a wide spectrum of people from all over, which companies have you had luck with and how much did you pay?

 

[nailz]

Through my bank of america credit card, I am enrolled in the "protector plus" program for $10 a month. For that, they pull my Credit report for me 4 times a year. It's nice.

However, you are legally entitled to your credit report for free. Check the internet for information, it's out there. freecreditreport.com will do it, but you have to sign up for their services.

 

[Jibrille]

You can get a "report" free once a year from the three main companies at this site: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
But it is kind of a scam as it's not an actual credit score and you need to pay to get that info.

The best place to sign up at MyFico.com and use the trial. Cancel before the end or pay them to track your score. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FICO_score#FICO_score_and_others

 

[Pellaz]

Do NOT use freecreditreport.com. It's a scam put on by Experian, and so are their omnipresent ads.

What others said: use www.annualcreditreport.com

You don't necessarily need to see your actual credit score, BTW. The credit reports should show any negative information that's impacting your score, and if there are errors, having them challenged and corrected should work wonders.

When I requested my credit reports via www.annualcreditreport.com, Equifax enrolled me in some sort of score tracking system and they're not charging me for it. Bonus! No idea how that happened but I'm not complaining....and I'm still getting the score updates.

Also, www.eloan.com will provide your credit score for free as a part of their home-loan approval process. I can't recommend them highly enough, as they made the "how much can I come up with?" part of my homebuying experience virtually hassle-free.

 

[Magius]

Do NOT use freecreditreport.com. It's a scam put on by Experian, and so are their omnipresent ads.

What others said: use www.annualcreditreport.com

You don't necessarily need to see your actual credit score, BTW. The credit reports should show any negative information that's impacting your score, and if there are errors, having them challenged and corrected should work wonders.

When I requested my credit reports via www.annualcreditreport.com, Equifax enrolled me in some sort of score tracking system and they're not charging me for it. Bonus! No idea how that happened but I'm not complaining....and I'm still getting the score updates.

Also, www.eloan.com will provide your credit score for free as a part of their home-loan approval process. I can't recommend them highly enough, as they made the "how much can I come up with?" part of my homebuying experience virtually hassle-free.

Exactly right. The score is not required to review your report, and any negatives, be they legit or errors. www.annualcreditreport.com is a government mandated requirement, which allows anyone to review their credit report for free.
All three major credit reporting agencies are required to provide you the information ONCE per year. You can therefore request a report from each one every 4 months and track your credit all year.

 

[Cheiron]

Through my bank of america credit card, I am enrolled in the "protector plus" program for $10 a month. For that, they pull my Credit report for me 4 times a year. It's nice.

Waste of money. You can pull your own credit report for far less than that, and you don't get anything additional from having the protector plus program. Its a scam.

 

[nailz]

Waste of money. You can pull your own credit report for far less than that, and you don't get anything additional from having the protector plus program. Its a scam.

Waste of money sure, but I've got it to blow for the convienence factor. I don't have any debt save for student loans and a mortgage that'll be paid off in just over 2.5 years.

 

[Pellaz]

Yipes! $120 a year? There are other useless and far cheaper score-monitoring scams out there!

 

[kittybeast]

I thought you could get one free once a year directly from Experian or Equifax?

I had my ssn# stolen from a drs. office, so I pay $50 a year for protection and I can check my report several times a year.

 

[booB]

Yipes! $120 a year? There are other useless and far cheaper score-monitoring scams out there!

I seem to remember that, last time I ordered my free credit report from one of the companies (can't remember which one), they offered to sell me my credit score for something like $5.

 

[nailz]

There's a service called LifeLock where the CEO was so sure of this service that he publically published his Social Security number. Well, that backfired since it was so easy to use his name and SSN to get fraudulent credit!

Technically, it was one guy who tried to use his info to take out a $500 payday loan. He got the money with the information, but Lifelock actually made sure the owner was protected, and his credit was not hurt at all by it. Just like it says it'll do. It doesn't say it's going to stop people from trying, it says it'll make sure you're not held accountable for identity theft, and it will handle all of the red tape associated with your identity being stolen. If you look it up, it's a LOT of red tape involved, and potentially $100,000's of dollars.

I will gladly fork over $10 a month for piece of mind. It's 30 minutes of work for me. I can handle that. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've spent 30 minutes now just surfing this forum at work.

 

[LunaTEKKE]

I will gladly fork over $10 a month for piece of mind.

I pay for a similar service through Experian. You get immediate notification if there are any changes to your credit report. A while ago, I started getting junk mail at my address with my last name, but someone else's first name....which seemed suspicious.

I know I could go the "free" route and have a credit report pulled every 4 months from a different agency, but my concern is that someone could do a lot of damage in 4 months.