Free Credit Report and Score

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:54:43 +0000

Is there such a thing as free credit report and score. The answer is not really. There is a free credit report, but there is nothing that is a true free credit score.

Your credit report is avaiable to you free one time per year. This is a requirement by law. It helps consumers see what accounts are saying about them. Also, today consumers need access to check for errors and identity theft.

Credit scores are often adveritsed as free but are they really? The answer is yes and no. If even you run across an offer for a free credit score it is going to include one thing. You signing up for a credit monitoring service of some sort. These are not bad, but they make your credit score not really free.

How can the companies that offer these really get away with this? The do something very smart. They say if you sign up we will give you your credit score and the credit monitoring is free for the first few weeks or month. Then if you don’t cancel it you will be charged. So it is free at first, but it just has some strings attached.

If you want to get to a free credit report and score you will need to cancel before the billing takes effect. Actually, you will need to cancel in the time they give you to cancel. Some companies state the first month is free, but you need to cancel within the first two weeks or so to not be charged. You have to be very careful and actually read the fine print.

I am not against credit monitoring and it is a good product. It is a cheap way to keep your identity safe and get access to your credit report and score more than once per year. I am just telling you need to know what you are getting into.

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A Credit Score is Not a FICO Score

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 07:57:51 +0000

How many times have you heard the term credit score? How many times have you heard FICO score? They seem to be used interchangeably, but they really are not.

The truth is a FICO score is a type of credit score. A credit score is a general term. There is a reported thousand plus different ways to score credit. This creates a thousand plus credit scores. Also, to increase the difficult, your credit score can be different depending on which credit report is being referenced. A FICO score is just one of these. It is actually should be thought of as a brand of credit score. To make things even more complicated, there is more than one FICO score. Each credit bureau has their own FICO score. For example the Beacon Score is a FICO score from Experian.

Which one should you get when you want a free credit score online? You should stick to your FICO score. First, FICO scores are the most popular and widely used credit score. Second, if you are applying for a mortgage the lender is definitely going to check your FICO score. Third, many of the other scoring models are based on the FICO score. So if you know your FICO score, you will have an idea of where you sit with the other credit scores.

There are other brands of credit scores like the new age VantageScore. This is complete different and uses a different credit score scale. These scores are lesser known and need to gain some popularity before they are worth worrying about.

The real way to play safe is to just as your potential creditor to which credit score they use. This way you can look it up yourself and be able to see what they see. You will then be a better informed consumer.

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Free Credit Report and Score

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A Credit Score is Not a FICO Score