*And not be scammed.
1. Remember that there is only legitimate site to retrieve your free credit report: annualcreditreport.com. All the other websites with a variation on the name are NOT part of the government’s program that provides free credit reports.
2. For safety reasons, you should always directly type in the address into your browser. That extra 5 seconds of typing is worth it.
3. You are entitled to a total of three free credit reports per year, one from each of the three credit-reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion).
4. A credit report should not cost you any money. Your credit score (FICO) is separate from the free report you will receive, and does require payment.
5. Don’t fall for scams! During my apartment search, I’ve emailed a couple of listings only to be told that I need to provide my credit score just to see the apartment, and that if I don’t know my credit score I can handily get the information for free at PleaseScamMe.com.
Keeping tabs on my credit report is something I need to do better – I just pulled my first free credit report in more than a year! Thankfully, everything looked all right, so I’ll pull my other two credit reports later in the year. From now on, I plan to do a credit report pull every 4 months.
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I actually use myfico.com which is owned by experian and it e-mails me whenever there is anything new showing up or change in credit score. This way I don’t have to run my credit all the time. I’ve had it for 2 years so far so good.
I pay for my Bank of America credit reporting service…although I should really end it.
Mel, do you pay for myfico.com?
I have a card with Juniper Bank. It gives me my fico score monthly. It was a big help to watch it move as I repaired it with info from http://www.creditrepaired4life.com. Interesting to see how things affect the score. Like letting one credit card balance get over 30% of the available credit line. Saw the score drop 10 point with that.
Thanks for writing this post, as a lot of people don’t know that they can get their credit report for free. I had a recent experience at my bank that reminded me that it’s important to know what your own financial situation is, because otherwise you can be forced into all sorts of situations that aren’t good for you.
So get informed, but do it wisely!
Yeah, you just have to watch the “wording” of those websites…. but if you apply for credit and are denied you can get a copy.
Just make sure with these that if you have to sign up with payment details that you cancel within the agreed period so it really is free.