Free Credit Reports

[Sarah'sMomfrom PA]

I have never requested the free credit reports from creditreport.com but with all of the craziness in the world, I thought it might be wise to start checking the reports for myself and my husband. I know that there are 3 credit reporting agencies and you can get one report from each per year (so I can can request 1 report from different agencies every 4 months) but is there any reporting agency that I should start with over any other? i.e. Equifax over TransUnion? We have excellent credit but just want to make sure that it is not being used by someone else.

 

[_19disnA]

Usually those sites that make a big deal out of your credit score/report are trying to sell some kind of service. They make it seem like it is important to constantly 'monitor' your credit just to justify what they trying to sell you. Did look up my free report a few years ago and it was no big deal. It incorrectly showed I worked someplace in a city I have never lived. Called someone associated with one of those rating agencies (don't recall which one) and they agreed to remove the inaccurate information. I think the only reason I had even looked at it was after one of companies sent me an email that I MIGHT have been involved in some widely publicized data breach a few years ago. Nothing bad ever happened and haven't bothered looking at it since.

Frankly, your credit score is the result of various things like if you pay accounts on time, are behind on any accounts, etc. Constantly looking at it won't change your score. I don't think any of those companies reveals their exact formula for ratings. Many people seem to have impressions of what makes your score go up or down, but most of that is based on hunches and assumptions vs. actually knowing the formula.

 

[Sarah'sMomfrom PA]

I already know my score (820) and my husband's score (817) but really just wanted to be sure that the stuff on the credit report was our stuff. It is my impression that you can get one report each year from the actual credit bureaus. Again, not talking about using a monitoring service just which bureau I should pull the report from. I will figure it out!

 

[ScottOKW2K]

The best site for free credit reports is Annual Credit Report.com . Nomally it is once a year per bureau but that have a statement on their home page stating "During these times of COVID-19, accessing your credit is important. That's why Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are now offering free weekly online reports through April 2021."

It would also be useful to sign up for a CreditKarma or CreditSesame account too.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Discover has scores all the time for customers so you can look whenever you want, some banks have it too.

 

[Sleepy425]

I’ve been using credit karma for years. No fee. No issues. I check it periodically to make sure nothing is wrong on it.
It’s wise to keep an eye on your credit score. Not sure why the poster up thread seems to think it isn’t important. It’s better to know if something fraudulent or incorrect is on there prior to actually needing to rely on your score (car purchase, mortgage, etc).

 

[RogueX]

It doesn't hurt to run your credit report and know that there isn't anything suspicious going on. It can, however, hurt if you are not aware of something that may be going on in the background that you don't know about if you haven't looked at it for a significant amount of time.

I have to monitor my credit reports and have two monitoring services on me, one of which has to cover my minor child due to the failings of the government in doing the most basic step of security measures to protect employees personnel data, including their beneficiary/dependants information. Some of the data stolen can't be changed and/or disputed.

 

[EACarlson]

It's really not going to matter which one you choose to start with. Just make sure you check all three.