How to check your credit rating? - Page 2

Easy To Get Credit Cards · #16 (**permalink**) 11-09-2007, 12:06 AM

annualcreditscore.com

murk · #17 (**permalink**) 10-19-2009, 03:02 PM

if you have been declined for a card recently then you are entitled to a free copy of your report

Chris the Credit Guy · #18 (**permalink**) 10-23-2009, 02:47 PM

You can get the reports free from the Credit bureaus just by calling them and asking for it.. but they are not going to give you the scores.. and checking your credit actually costs you some points on your scores.

EQUIFAX INFORMATION SVCS LLC EFX265
P.O. BOX 740241
ATLANTA, GA 30374−0241
800−685−1111

TRANSUNION TRU29NM
P.O. BOX 1000
CHESTER, PA 19022
800−888−4213

EXPERIAN XPNTNM1
P.O. BOX 2002
ALLEN, TX 75013−0036
888−397−3742

annualcreditreport.com is another site to actually get a free report..

I actually found a great place to get a copy of all three of your scores from a non-profit organization in Missouri that will not charge you with an inquiry.. the only place i have found.. check out cumic.org.. it's going to cost you $20 but getting individual reports with scoring from the bureaus will cost you $24.. and put an inquiry on file.

ResidualCents · #19 (**permalink**) 12-18-2009, 11:43 PM

You are entitled to receive one free annual credit report every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. It is entirely your choice whether you order all three credit reports at the same time or order one now and others later. The advantage of ordering all three at the same time is that you can compare them. (However, you will not be eligible for another free credit report for 12 months.) On the other hand, the advantage of ordering one now and others later (for example, one credit report every four months) is that you can keep track of any changes or new information that may appear on your credit report. If you request your's from only one company today you can still request from the other two companies at a later date. That way you will know your updated credit report every four months.

eddie1 · #20 (**permalink**) 10-09-2010, 02:39 PM

In the UK there are three credit reference agencies - Experian, Equifax and CallCredit. As far as I'm aware they all currently offer free credit reports online if you sign up for their credit monitoring services. You just have to cancel during the 30 day trial period.

trailbrake2088 · #21 (**permalink**) 03-03-2011, 09:53 PM

That annual credit report is legit, It does cost to get the score but they dont trick you into it.

KatherineLee88 · #22 (**permalink**) 03-05-2011, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris the Credit Guy

and checking your credit actually costs you some points on your scores.

Incorrect. Checking your score does a "soft inquiry" which has no affect on your score. They show up on some reports but have no affect on the score. You'll often see some other credit lenders listed in this category because they're doing screens to identify people to extend credit offers to.

What does affect your score are "hard inquiries." These are done whenever you apply for credit such as a car loan, mortgage, or credit cards. They stay on reports for months and negatively impact the score. Lenders do not like to see a lot of hard inquiries since it implies you are looking for "a lot" of new credit, making you more likely a bad credit liability. This is why it's not good to just apply for credit, especially when you suspect you'll be rejected because it'll hurt your score.

FICO scores cost $5-20/each. I buy my Transunion score from myfico.com. I pay $5/mo and get a report every 3 months (so about $15 a score). I also get a neat little report with it saying what's negatively affecting my score and what's helping it. For example, last time I it told me my score was negatively affected by recently opening a credit card in the past three months, and my short credit history (2-3 years).

You can buy a FICO credit score from Transunion and Equifax. However, Experian no longer sells FICO scores to consumers; it only sells to lenders now. Experian will sell you a PLUS score but this is referred to some as a FAKO (fake) score since it is NOT the score that lenders taking "hard inquiries" from Experian see. Therefore I think it's wasteful to buy anything other than a true FICO score.

However, as others have said... getting your credit report without score is free once-a-year from each of the three credit bureaus.

Sponsors