Free Credit Reports Now Available

Remember that you can get ONE FREE REPORT FROM EACH OF THE THREE CREDIT AGENCIES. It has been suggested that you can keep track of your credit, by ordering a report from one agency, then the 2nd report from another four months later & the 3rd report four months after the 2nd one. By the time a year rolls around, you are ready to order from the first agency, again. Credit monitoring services are available, at a cost. Shop around. There are a lot of them out there.

Just wandering if you can advise me on an Australian free credit report (as in the US it doesn't work for us) Funny That!!!! I have done a search and yes I have to pay. Which really isn't fair... Why do we have to pay for everything these days, what happened to the nice old days? Thanks for your informative newsletter, you're great.

EDITOR'S NOTE: We in the US had to pay as well, up until last year when the gov't changed the law to allow one free report per year. Perhaps it's time to contact your elected representative...

I went to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp but was told "The page cannot be found. The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable."

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second time someone from a non-US location told me this. I suspect they are blocking you because the site is only applicable to US citizens.

An important note about credit scores: The FICO score is the one that most banks and other lenders look at. Equifax will sell you a FICO score for its report, but the scores that TransUnion and Experian offer are proprietary (they figure the scores themselves) and are not widely used by lenders. Your score may vary by up to 50 points from each of the three agencies, so if you want to see all three, you might try buying from www.myfico.com. The FICO Deluxe package gives instant online access to all three, but carries a price tag of $45.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ouch! But why buy all three if the Equifax number is the one that lenders really care about? A side note, I got a PayPal Visa, and one nice benefit is FREE monthly FICO scores for a year -- cool.

Okay, so we can get a free credit report now. That's great, but ask yourself--why have we had to PAY to get personal information about OURSELVES? Not to mention you still have to pay for the FICO score...

I believe people have a right to have free and unlimited access to any and all personal information about themselves!

Bob: Thanks for a fine treatment of Credit Reports.
FWIW: I requested and got my reports from Experian and Equifax, although I didn't much like sending my SSAN over the 'Net.
However, the TransUnion report also insisted on my bank account numbers (to 'verify' that I am really who I said I was): this made me too-uncomfortable and I decided to live without a Transunion report. Call me: cautious (??) or just prudent (??)

EDITOR'S NOTE: You should be glad they ask for extra info to verify your identity, before giving out all your personal info! The credit agencies surely know your bank account numbers, but a identify thief trying to snoop into your credit report might not.

here it says http://www.moneysavingfreetips.com/trw-free-credit-report.html you can get a free credit report if you fall into any one of those criteria... anyone ever gotten a free credit report? How did you go about the process?