Free Credit Report

[jeffmem]

Hello all,

I am wondering if any of you have been able to get a free yearly credit report for no particular reason? I keep seeing that you can get one for free every year just to check it to make sure it is right, but I have been unable to get one for free EVER.

I know there are some ways to get one for free, for example of you have been turned down for a credit card or whatever, I don't fall in to any of those categories but I still check my score every year, but do not really want to pay to check it, it is another yearly expense that I don't really want to pay for.

Any thoughts?

[FrugalIII]

In my experience the gimmick is that you sign up for a membership. The credit report/score is free if you cancel the membership w/in 9 days. I just today got mine.

[noppenbd]

Credit report and score are two different things.

You can get one free credit report per year from each of the 3 credit bureaus from annualcreditreport.com . The typical advice is to stagger the bureaus so you can get a free report every 4 months.

It is harder to get a credit score for free. Typically you would have to sign up for a service. However a few websites have popped up which will give you a credit score for free (notice I said "a score" not "the score", because the FICO score is tightly guarded cash cow for Fair Isaac corp). Quizzle.com and creditkarma.com are 2 popular sites which generate credit scores. The scores are only approximations but will give you an idea of where you stand.

[jeffmem]

FrugalIII, which site did you go to get your 9 days? That is all I need. Yeah I seem remember you have to cancel it, but kind of a pain.

noppenbd,annualcreditreport.com still charges though doesn't it? And they are blocking me because I am not in the US, fraud protection probably but makes things difficult for me.

I cannot remember which companies I have used before, but generally I got all three for like $25 for one month.

[noppenbd]

noppenbd,annualcreditreport.com still charges though doesn't it? And they are blocking me because I am not in the US, fraud protection probably but makes things difficult for me.

No, annualcreditreport.com does not charge for credit reports. However, the bureaus will also try to sell you your score at the time when you request your free report. You just have to take care to decline that if all you want is your report.

[RedHotLama]

annualcreditreport.com.

Not free credit report. com.

The first one gives it to you for free. Just your report not your score.

[dmontngrey]

You are correct that not being in the U.S. is what's blocking you right now. My brother is currently stationed in Iraq and he had me run it for him. Yes, it is a fraud issue but also a problem if it's something you need to see right now!

[swaymonae]

Try MyFico.com - for score & credit report monitoring

I believe you can get a month free,..either way it's only $8/ month with this code: FICO4963

I signed up over a year ago, and still very much enjoy the service.. there's a bunch of tools on the website, and they email you if anything changes on your credit report, .. new inquiry, bal. increase or decrease, new account opened, account closed etc. You can set goals relating to your credit score, it can also calculate the effect of certain activity and tell you what your score would be.. it tells you what kind of rates you qualify for in different areas.

[jeffmem]

dmontngrey, will have to see if I can find a proxy that would work or somehow mask my ip address. I understand why they do this, but, they obviously don't realize there are over six million Americans living overseas.

swaymonae, is myfico.com trustworthy though? Are they going to give you your score or just something close to it?

[FrugalIII]

I went to freecreditreport.com. I got all 3 and the scores for $24.95 or something like that. If you don't cancel your memebership in 9 days there is a monthly fee. But you can cancel at any time.

[disneysteve]

swaymonae, is myfico.com trustworthy though? Are they going to give you your score or just something close to it?

They are the ones who create your FICO score, so that is the place to get the actual score from the source.

[jeffmem]

FrugalIII, eyah but I don't want to pay the first 24.95, any way around that?

I never heard of FICO until today...

[FrugalIII]

I don't think so. I just got it yesterday and have't cancelled my membership yet. I'm planning on doing that Monday. My cc hasn't been billed so maybe you only pay the fee if you don't cancel. ???

[swaymonae]

They are the ones who create your FICO score, so that is the place to get the actual score from the source.

Good thing you knew.. cause I had no idea...

[jeffmem]

I had no idea either. Maybe I heard FICO in passing before, but never really thought about it much...

I will check it out and see if it will charge you only after a few days of looking at it or refund your money or how it works.. It seems I won't be able to do the other one, but need to see if I can find a proxy that would work first. anyway...