Free Credit Reports (an unentertaining public service announcement)

[EnderIII]

Do not ever sign up for one of these on a whim. At least for the one at truecredit.com.

The information is not that useful since they don't actually tell you your score like they seem to imply that they will and you are automatically signed up for a subscription that they make a complete pain to unsubscribe from (you can't do it online). Plus the customer service reps are trained to try to talk you out of it at least 4 times. It took about 10 minutes.

It made me die a little inside. Carry on.

[suzzer99]

10 years ago or so I had a couple utilities opened with my name and SS #. Since then I've signed up for a couple credit-watch type things through credit cards and maybe my bank. They've all been pretty worthless. Their whole goal is to get you to sign up, send you one summary, then disappear pretty much.

[RicoTubbs]

Don't make the mistake of going to a commercial site like freecreditreport.com. Instead, go to the one that was set up by the government: www.annualcreditreport.com.

You get to request one credit report from each of the 3 providers per year, which means you can get a new report every 4 months. The only drawback is you don't actually get your credit score, but I don't view that as a big deal.

I've been getting credit reports here for a few years and have never had to pay anything, cancel any service, or gotten any spam from it.

More info:
AnnualCreditReport.com is a centralized service for consumers to request free annual credit reports. It was created by the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

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 nationwide consumer credit reporting companies in accordance with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act).

AnnualCreditReport.com offers consumers a fast and convenient way to request, view and print their credit reports in a secure Internet environment. We also provide options to request reports by telephone and by mail.

AnnualCreditReport.com is the only service authorized by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion for this purpose. The three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies have always encouraged consumers to regularly review their credit reports.

[Fast Food Knight]

Yeah I got duped by freecreditreport.com [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[5_year_old_bully]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah I got duped by freecreditreport.com [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats ok baby.

You teach us about loofahs and we will teach you about finance.

[siccjay]

I have never in my life known my score. Is there even a way to get it without paying?

[superadvisor]

I did the annual credit report thing once... like 4 years ago. I went to try it again a few weeks ago and forgot my user name and password and I also changed my e-mail address since then so it's impossible to retrieve or reset my password. Great system.

[Losing all]

[ QUOTE ]
I have never in my life known my score. Is there even a way to get it without paying?

[/ QUOTE ]

Get a WAMU card. They offer a free PFICO (credit card enhanced fico score) that updates monthly. Or you could just fork over the $12 or so (after discount code, currently MW01) per score/report at myfico.com

I'm amazed at how cheap people are when it comes to this important information. 1 false or easy to remove negative could be costing you thousands.

[wonderwes]