Where can I get free credit reports?? Really free??

[dorlow]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone knows where I can get my credit report anytime I want to see it from all 3 bureaus free or the cheapest one. Right now, I'm using freecreditreport.com. For one, it's completely not free because it's costing me $20 a month to use it. Everyone I've found that says free is free with signing up for something that costs $20 a month. (Real free!!!) With freecreditreport, I only see my experian credit report. Triplecreditreport.com allows you to see your credit report only one but your score for all 3. But still costs like $20 or $30 a month.

My credit report is constantly getting screwed up. My dad and I have the same name and our finances constantly get mixed up. We just got turned down for a loan because a credit card he has that had $6,000 on it showed on my credit report. I've had my identity stolen once a few years ago. I like to keep a close eye on it. But I don't want to spend $30 a month just to monitor them. I could see $10 a month to view all 3 anytime I want. I am spending the $20 a month for freecreditreport, but I'd like to see all 3 anytime I want and have it be cheaper.

Does anyone have a service out there they recommend?

[dorlow]

I do know about the free credit report you get once a year from all 3 bureaus but I've already gotten that one free before this last mess up happened on my credit. So, now I have to pay to see my credit reports to fix an error that isn't my fault.

[disneysteve]

The ONLY site to get truly free credit reports is annualcreditreport.com. That is the place to use.

ETA: We posted at the same time. There is NO site to regularly monitor your reports for free. You must use a paid service for that. Perhaps others can suggest a cheaper place.

[kork13]

Try your bank, they may have a low-cost option for you. Not all will do this, obviously, but some do. My bank offers credit monitoring services for $6/month (though it's only with Experian). Shop around, I'm certain you can find something that works for you. Just also be very careful that any service you actually consider using is legitimate and trustworthy.

[Seeker]

Disneysteve is correct, you can get one free credit report from each of the 3 major credit reporting agencies from that site.

But to get a paid-for-service should not cost more than $10/month either.

In addition to your bank(s), you can also check with your credit card companies. Many of them offer this service for less than $20/month; though you have to check with them as to which of the agencies they use (if more than one agrency).

And there's a third option for this service as well... some workplaces also offer this service. Check with your HR.

[disneysteve]

But to get a paid-for-service should not cost more than $10/month either.

In addition to your bank(s), you can also check with your credit card companies. Many of them offer this service for less than $20/month

I opened my Discover bill this morning and one of the ads was for Credit Score Tracker service. It is $7.99/month and lets you track your score, get your report and receive alerts of changes to your score.

[boosami]

My AmEx has a score tracking feature that includes all three reports but no FICO score. Normally the cost is about $10 a month but they waived it for me so it's free.

[conancare]

If you refer to creditreport dot com you not only get access to free credit reports but also access to credit score, isn't it interesting ?

Regards,
Conan

[good2goo]

The ONLY site to get truly free credit reports is annualcreditreport.com. That is the place to use.

ETA: We posted at the same time. There is NO site to regularly monitor your reports for free. You must use a paid service for that. Perhaps others can suggest a cheaper place.

Ive been going to that website for a while now and getting one bureau report once every 4 months. You can get 1 free report from each of the bureaus and they give you the option to get all three or just 1. I get 1 bureau at a time, but I figure that way I have a better chance at catching problems sooner.

[shultice24]

"Freecreditreport.com, tell your dad, tell your friends, tell your mom!" Haha, even though it's misleading, you gotta give 'em some credit for their creative commercials.

Lifelock is another option. I bought a year's subscription a few months ago. For around $100 a year you get some good identity protection and they automatically order your 3 free reports for you. They don't do anything you can't do yourself, but I think it's worth eliminating the hassle (plus their $1 million guarantee is reassuring).

[amandasfinances]

You can always get it for free from the government! Don't trust those free websites claiming to give you a free credit report, I found that you can get your credit report from the govt directly without dealing with those scam sites.

[good2goo]

annualcreditreport.com is not a scam website.

[kork13]

Lifelock is another option. I bought a year's subscription a few months ago. For around $100 a year you get some good identity protection and they automatically order your 3 free reports for you. They don't do anything you can't do yourself, but I think it's worth eliminating the hassle (plus their $1 million guarantee is reassuring).

I actually heard a funny news bite about this... The owner of that company, the one who runs around advertising his SSN, just got his identity stolen -- in a rather significant way ($$ wise), as I understand it.

Personally, I'd rather not entrust my "identity" to somebody dumb enough to advertise their own to the world.

[shultice24]

I actually heard a funny news bite about this... The owner of that company, the one who runs around advertising his SSN, just got his identity stolen -- in a rather significant way ($$ wise), as I understand it.

Personally, I'd rather not entrust my "identity" to somebody dumb enough to advertise their own to the world.

Do you have a source for this? I heard about an incident last year; and it was only for $500- and it happened because it was a crappy little payday loan service that didn't use any of the 3 credit bureaus, and that such an incident would be taken care of by LifeLock.

I could be wrong though.