topic Free Credit Report Help? in Community Chat

Free Credit Report Help?

sunala — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 17:30:20 GMT

I know the big three, but when I go to their websites they want money. I was under the impression that they offer free credit reports once a year. One did offer a free report but it stated it wouldn't give you your credit score. What good is that?

I figured I'd post this because I don't want to click on the wrong link and wind up either paying for it, or accidentally connecting with a scam site.

Thanks!

Re: Free Credit Report Help?

RainyDayGal — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 17:37:36 GMT

Have you tried Credit Karma? I just read some reviews about it yesterday. Some say it's great, but said it doesn't give a FICO score.

Re: Free Credit Report Help?

Ibby114 — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 17:44:01 GMT

I really like Credit Karma- their website offers great intuitive tools! They preobably have some services where you pay- but everything I've utilized thus far has been free!

Re: Free Credit Report Help?

spent2much — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 17:58:21 GMT

The free one is annualcreditreport.com. But, again, they don't give you your credit score. I thought the big 3 give you your score once per year.

Re: Free Credit Report Help?

SeaMaiden — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:23:36 GMT

Discover card tells you your FICO score when you get your statement each month.

Re: Free Credit Report Help?

Nightowlz — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:21:35 GMT

I would use annualcreditreport.com You have to pay for your FICO score. I can check mine free since I have a Discover Card. I asked one of the lenders at the Credit Union what our credit score was & she got on the computer & told us what they were.

Re: Free Credit Report Help?

vickie25 — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:27:41 GMT

@spent2much wrote:
The free one is annualcreditreport.com. But, again, they don't give you your credit score. I thought the big 3 give you your score once per year.

You want to request your free report from this site. The reason the government institued this was for the consumer to verify that there were no errors on their report. BUT, it does not come wiht a free FICO score. THAT you still have to pay for unless you have a credit card that provides a FICO score from whatever bureau they are working with. I have 2 credit cards that provide a FICO score and they are off, on average, by 30 points. Meaning FICO score from CC#1 will be 30pts lower than CC#2 FICO score. So which is right?

Until I need to purchase a big ticket item, I just use this as a guide.

Re: Free Credit Report Help?

Trinity11 — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:31:16 GMT

@sunala wrote:
I know the big three, but when I go to their websites they want money. I was under the impression that they offer free credit reports once a year. One did offer a free report but it stated it wouldn't give you your credit score. What good is that?

I figured I'd post this because I don't want to click on the wrong link and wind up either paying for it, or accidentally connecting with a scam site.

Thanks!

As mentioned Credit Karma gives two scores...TransUnion and Equifax but not Experian. Once a year I use Myficoscore.com, log in and pay for all three scores. It is reliable and worth it. If you google there are usually coupons to help with the cost. If your spouse uses the same cards, his credit score still may be different and we usually do both our scores. There is sometimes a few points off give or take a couple. It does give peace of mind and if you see something incorrect, they can help with how to dispute it.

HTH

Re: Free Credit Report Help?

Pook — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:44:13 GMT

Credit Karma is free because they push different cards. I am scored much lower on credit karma and then they "suggest" balance transfers to various companies! My credit union gives me access to all three major credit reporting companies. All are about the same and even though credit karma says they are the same as 2 of the 3 - well in my case not so! My auto insurance company gets their reports from one of two other places and not the big 3. Both Discover and Chase give access to FICO scores.

Re: Free Credit Report Help?

Mz iMac — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:49:47 GMT

Your bank will give you a FICO score report as well as a credit report all for FREE!!!!!

Re: Free Credit Report Help?

Nightowlz — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:54:33 GMT

@vickie25 wrote:
@spent2much wrote:
The free one is annualcreditreport.com. But, again, they don't give you your credit score. I thought the big 3 give you your score once per year.
You want to request your free report from this site. The reason the government institued this was for the consumer to verify that there were no errors on their report. BUT, it does not come wiht a free FICO score. THAT you still have to pay for unless you have a credit card that provides a FICO score from whatever bureau they are working with. I have 2 credit cards that provide a FICO score and they are off, on average, by 30 points. Meaning FICO score from CC#1 will be 30pts lower than CC#2 FICO score. So which is right?

Until I need to purchase a big ticket item, I just use this as a guide.

My FICO score with Discover Card shows pretty much what it was when the Credit Union gave us the info.

30 pts one way or the other is a big difference. I would want to know why the big difference.

Re: Free Credit Report Help?

Mz iMac — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 19:46:19 GMT

@spent2much wrote:
The free one is annualcreditreport.com. But, again, they don't give you your credit score. I thought the big 3 give you your score once per year.

They do but you must request it. It is not done automatically.

However, if your bank the old fashion way (offline), your bank will print out a credit & FICO report anytime you wish all for FREE!!!!! In other words, you do not have to wait a whole year for a report.

For the past 2 yrs, I have been planning on getting a new car at the end of this year. So what I have been doing is having my bank get my reports every 3-6 months.

So far, so good, fingers & toes cross to get a bank car loan at lower interest rate & low monthly payments.

Re: Free Credit Report Help?

sunala — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 20:07:39 GMT

Thank you everyone!

I have an American Express card, so I will go on their website and see what I can find out. I will also contact my bank.

And thanks for annualcreditreport.com. I will check that out as well.

We have excellent credit, but we just want to check to make sure it's still the same.

I knew I could count on you all to help