With today's financial climate, most people are very aware of how important their credit profile is, especially if they are trying to get a mortgage or refinance loan. The problem is that many people don't want to pay for information about themselves, and so many of the "free" credit websites online have turned out to be scams that sign users up for expensive "credit monitoring" and other services they may not want.
Here are a few sites that are truly free, and do not require any sort of purchase or trial to use:
AnnualCreditReport.com - This is probably the most well known among the legitimate free credit sites. It was created by the 3 major credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian, & TransUnion - as a place for customers to be able to request all 3 reports at once, in accordance with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions [FACT] Act. You can get one free report from each bureau every 12 months [some do one report at a time, and check their credit every 4 months], either printed instantly online or by mail. While you do get your credit report, this does not provide your credit score for free, although you can buy it.
Credit Karma - This is one of my favorite sites, mainly because you can update it as often as you like. It gives you a score based on TrueCredit, which is part of TransUnion. Again, not an actual FICO score, but close enough to give you some idea where you stand [mine has been within 15 points of mt median score both times I compared the two]. It will also grade different components of your score [payment history, inquiries, age of accounts, etc], and offers a useful tool in its "credit simulator", which shows how different financial decisions and actions would affect your credit. For me, the best part of this site is the score tracking - you can update it as often as you like, and it shows a graph so you can watch your score go up [or down] as your credit improves or worsens.
Credit.com - This site also grades your credit, based on information from TransUnion, and tells you how that grade would translate into an actual score. Like the others, it breaks down different aspects of your score and gives a grade for each of those as well. Under each category, it shows a breakdown of the infromation used to develop each grade, such as the number of late payments, ages of accounts, etc. You can update your "credit report card" on this site every 30 days.
Quizzle - This site seems to be affiliated with Quicken Loans. You sign up, then answer several questions to confirm your identity and build a profile. It will then grade your financial situation and suggest improvements you can make in various categories [mortgage, budget, savings, etc]. The best part - it gives you a free copy of your Experian credit report, along with a credit score based in Experian's data. They don't say if it's the exact same as what the banks pull from Experian in all cases, but mine was very close [this may be a "VantageScore, rather than a FICO"]. You can get an updated report and score every 6 months for free, or purchase more frequent updates for $7.
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