Here is some information on free credit reports that might be useful to you:
When considering buying a home - and even as part of an ongoing general financial plan - it is important for us to check our credit reports regularly. It is generally agreed that at least 25% of consumers have errors on their reports that could adversely affect their credit-worthiness.
Here is a method to do it for free and to do it on a regular basis:
Go to: www.annualcreditreport.com
NOTE: There are MANY similarly-named sites, including ones with the word "free" in it. They are not really free and usually try to get you to sign up for a credit monitoring service or to pay to see your credit score. You should avoid those sites.
When you go to the site, pick one of the three companies listed: Equifax, Experian or TransUnion.
Fill out the form. Yes, you will have to enter your SSN, but the site is legitimate.
After you submit the form, you will be able to see your credit report instantly and you can even download it as a PDF file or print it out.
Although you can only get one free report each year from any one company, here's how to get three of them each year for free:
Pick one of the companies. Then, four months from today, pick the second company. Four months from that date, pick the third company. Then you can start over again, beginning next year. By rotating through the three companies every four months, you can keep a pretty vigilant watch over your credit without paying anything for a monitoring service.
These reports will not contain your credit rating score (FICO score). You usually have to pay for this, although when you apply for a loan, the lending institution usually gives you a copy of your scores along with your latest credit report. To get a copy of your score on your own generally costs about $16. You can sometimes get a free score by agreeing to a trial subscription to a monitoring service. This is okay, but remember to cancel within the specified time so that you will not be charged for the subscription - unless you really want it!
Finally, requesting the free credit report through www.annualcreditreport.com will NOT affect your credit score.
Some credit card companies are starting to offer your credit score as part of your cardholder agreement - you can check to see if one of your cards is in this group.
There are also other sites like Quizzle.com, CreditSesame.com and CreditKarma.com that offer free credit reports, free credit scores and free suggestions on how to improve your score. You can also get them at any time. These sites require NO credit card information to be given, so check them out and see if you like them!
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