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Free Credit Reports!! Free Credit Reports??

By
Mortgage and Lending with Guaranty Bank and Trust Co. NMLS #595131

 

Most of us have seen the advertisements on television and the internet for a FREE COPY OF YOUR CREDIT REPORT!  Remember when your parents said that nothing in life is for free?  Chances are they were right.  While many companies advertise a free credit report it almost always comes with some strings attached.

In order to get your free credit report with most providers you must sign up for some type of credit monitoring/alert service on a monthly basis.  This type of service may allow you unlimited access to view your credit report and alert you of any new credit or material changes. This part is not free.

The largest of the free credit report providers is FreeCreditReport.com which is owned by the credit repository Experian. They require you to sign up for a $14.95 credit monitoring service in order to receive your free credit report.  You can visit Experian.com directly and get a free credit report by enrolling in the same exact service for only $12.95 per month.

CreditReport.com is another large free credit report provider requiring enrollment into an $11.95 monthly monitoring service.  If your goal is to keep close watch over your credit a monitoring service may be what you need but if you just want a free credit report I've got some good news!

AnnualCreditReport.com provides consumers with the secure means to request and obtain a free credit report once every 12 months from each of the three credit reporting companies in accordance with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transacting Act (FACT Act). The Annual Credit Request Service is an absolutely free way to view your credit, check for errors and identity theft with no requirement to enroll in a monitoring service.  You will also have the ability to dispute items that are incorrect.  If you want your credit score you will have to pay a fee, around $8, but that is strictly optional.

The Annual Credit Request service will never approach consumers via email, telemarketing, or direct mail solicitations.  They also warn that as a security precaution, consumers should never provide their personal information to any other company or person requesting free annual credit reports under the FACT Act.

I suggest viewing your credit once every 4 months by pulling a report through AnnualCreditReport.com from one of the three credit reporting companies (Equifax, Transunion, or Experian).  This will allow you to check for identity theft, erroneous information and monitor your credit for free.  But be careful!  The site still has advertisement links which will route you back to the retail credit sites of the reporting companies so make sure you pay attention. 

If you are shopping for a mortgage loan some mortgage professionals will provide you with a free copy of your credit report however by law all must disclose your credit score in accordance with the FACT Act. 

To get your free credit report visit http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ or call 1-877-322-8228.

Comments (1)

Dave Sullivan
Real Estate One - Birmingham, MI
Michigan Realtor with an investor viewpoint

Good info if you would like to watch me order my free credit report and find out how to get your real FICO score for free watch this http://www.thecreditguy.tv/get-your-credit-report-real-fico-score-for-free/

Jan 28, 2012 12:59 AM