What is the best deal on credit reports?

[PaKettle]

I know about the free annual credit reports but I used mine 9 months ago so it isn't time yet to get more free ones.

So, is there a "deal" out there for getting all 3 for one good price? Or what is the best deal out there for getting constant access to all 3? maybe including one FICO score?

[JRScott]

I use truecredit

[momof5]

I know that experian will let you get a free one by going directly to their site and clicking one of the 'free' options such as I think I might be a victim of fraud or that you have been turned down recently for credit.

While some may say that is just being dishonest. I look at it as though anyone could be a victim of fraud at anytime so its just a round about way of making sure that there are no creditors that you didnt authorize yourself.
While your in there you can check other things as well. I was really surprised to see that our BK filing was in there the day after it was filed with our local BK court! That was quick...

Call me cheap but at this point I think that credit reports should be free for all who file BK and for a while there after. Monitoring credit reports post discharge is fairly important in rebuilding credit or watching for incorrect information.

[soalsrfr]

PaKettle,

I work at a national credit reporting agency...unfortunately we only service banks, mortgage brokers, loan officers and lending institutions for mortgage loans.

I do however have an extensive background in credit and reporting as well as provide training for our customers on credit so I could probably point you in the right direction.

You are right on with having gone to www.annualcreditreport.com to begin with. This is the ONLY free report website sponsored by the credit bureaus and you are not obligated in any way to enroll in anything when going to that site. Since you have already utilized this options within the last 12 months, there is another little secret about getting more free copies of your credit report from the bureaus.

Visit Experian's website at www.experian.com. Once there, you can type "fraud victim" in the seach box in the upper right corner. You will want to go to the "victim's assistance" link. You have the ability to place a fraud alert on your credit file for 90 days from this page, here is the direct link https://www.experian.com/consumer/ca...=SECURITYALERT

Even if you haven't been a victim of fraud, you have the right to place a fraud alert on your credit file. This protects you from anyone potentially establishing credit using your information. Experian will give you an online copy of your credit file instantly and will also notify the other bureaus. Normally, Equifax will then mail you a copy of their file but Transunion will see if you had previously gotten your free report and then mail you a letter letting you know that a fraud warning was placed on your file...but no report.

You can then just buy the one bureau that you need instead of all 3 though.

The BEST site to go to to get a 3 bureau credit report with the SCORES that are used for lending purposes is www.myfico.com

This includes your true FICO scores and not consumer scores like what the bureaus give you. Also, when buying from MyFICO, this is a soft inquiry that doesn't affect your credit scores in any way.

Hope this information helps if you didn't already know all of this.

Thanks,
Soalsrfr

[PaKettle]

PaKettle,

I work at a national credit reporting agency...unfortunately we only service banks, mortgage brokers, loan officers and lending institutions for mortgage loans.

I do however have an extensive background in credit and reporting as well as provide training for our customers on credit so I could probably point you in the right direction.

You are right on with having gone to www.annualcreditreport.com to begin with. This is the ONLY free report website sponsored by the credit bureaus and you are not obligated in any way to enroll in anything when going to that site. Since you have already utilized this options within the last 12 months, there is another little secret about getting more free copies of your credit report from the bureaus.

Visit Experian's website at www.experian.com. Once there, you can type "fraud victim" in the seach box in the upper right corner. You will want to go to the "victim's assistance" link. You have the ability to place a fraud alert on your credit file for 90 days from this page, here is the direct link https://www.experian.com/consumer/ca...=SECURITYALERT

Even if you haven't been a victim of fraud, you have the right to place a fraud alert on your credit file. This protects you from anyone potentially establishing credit using your information. Experian will give you an online copy of your credit file instantly and will also notify the other bureaus. Normally, Equifax will then mail you a copy of their file but Transunion will see if you had previously gotten your free report and then mail you a letter letting you know that a fraud warning was placed on your file...but no report.

You can then just buy the one bureau that you need instead of all 3 though.

The BEST site to go to to get a 3 bureau credit report with the SCORES that are used for lending purposes is www.myfico.com

This includes your true FICO scores and not consumer scores like what the bureaus give you. Also, when buying from MyFICO, this is a soft inquiry that doesn't affect your credit scores in any way.

Hope this information helps if you didn't already know all of this.

Thanks,
Soalsrfr

Thanks.
I nominate soalsrfr's post as a Sticky, perhaps it should be in the Rebuilding Creidit forum, though? As my original post should have been - but I just posted here out of habit. ;)

Anyone with further info that supplements it could be added...?

Question:
Does putting a Fraud Alert on my credit reports have ANY negative consequences? Like will I not be able to apply for credit during this 90 day Fraud Alert period? Will it stop any offers of credit from being offered? Will it have ANY negative effects you can think of? [By the way, I WAS a victim of fraud a month or so ago but it was simply the "skimming" of my atm card, and I am quite sure it did not affect any other account as they had no info on any other account, they just somehow got a copy of my debit card.]

[PaKettle]

I use truecredit

JR, thanks for that. I checked out truecredit.com. It says:

"Just $14.95 per month. Cancel anytime."
"Unlimited access to ALL THREE of your credit reports and credit scores."

Does this contain ALL the same info as an actual credit report or is some kind of "condensed version" or something?

"No obligation, cancel anytime."

Do you know: if I cancel a week after I buy it, do I still get to use my 30 days, or do I have to remember to cancel on the 29th day?

This is run by Transunion, so it seems odd - they offer you to see all 3 reports for $29.95.... OR you can sign up for this and see all 3 for $14.95?
I guess they are banking on your not cancelling after a month?

One more note on this subject - I've asked this before and don't think I have gotten a response:

Let's say I sign up for the service and cancel in the first month... But then, as long as I keep making Disputes of info at least once a month, I get to keep seeing my reports for free, no? Don't you get to see a free report for like 30 days after any dispute? So if you keep making disputes within every 30 days you can effectively see free credit reports for a year or so, no?

[PaKettle]

PaKettle,

I work at a national credit reporting agency...unfortunately we only service banks, mortgage brokers, loan officers and lending institutions for mortgage loans.

I do however have an extensive background in credit and reporting as well as provide training for our customers on credit so I could probably point you in the right direction.

[...edit]

The BEST site to go to to get a 3 bureau credit report with the SCORES that are used for lending purposes is www.myfico.com

This includes your true FICO scores and not consumer scores like what the bureaus give you. Also, when buying from MyFICO, this is a soft inquiry that doesn't affect your credit scores in any way.

Hope this information helps if you didn't already know all of this.

Thanks,
Soalsrfr

I went to www.myfico.com

[JRScott]

JR, thanks for that. I checked out truecredit.com. It says:

"Just $14.95 per month. Cancel anytime."
"Unlimited access to ALL THREE of your credit reports and credit scores."

Does this contain ALL the same info as an actual credit report or is some kind of "condensed version" or something?

"No obligation, cancel anytime."

Do you know: if I cancel a week after I buy it, do I still get to use my 30 days, or do I have to remember to cancel on the 29th day?

This is run by Transunion, so it seems odd - they offer you to see all 3 reports for $29.95.... OR you can sign up for this and see all 3 for $14.95?
I guess they are banking on your not cancelling after a month?

One more note on this subject - I've asked this before and don't think I have gotten a response:

Let's say I sign up for the service and cancel in the first month... But then, as long as I keep making Disputes of info at least once a month, I get to keep seeing my reports for free, no? Don't you get to see a free report for like 30 days after any dispute? So if you keep making disputes within every 30 days you can effectively see free credit reports for a year or so, no?

It's a normal one far as I can recall. They mail you once a month an email saying if their has been changes, inquiries, etc.

I've never tried canceling yet so not sure about that .

They are indeed hoping you don't cancel , also I bet a lot of folks pay the 29.95 and then come back a few months later and pay it again.

I'm not sure .

[Flamingo]

Thanks.
I nominate soalsrfr's post as a Sticky, perhaps it should be in the Rebuilding Creidit forum, though? As my original post should have been - but I just posted here out of habit. ;)

Anyone with further info that supplements it could be added...?

Question:
Does putting a Fraud Alert on my credit reports have ANY negative consequences? Like will I not be able to apply for credit during this 90 day Fraud Alert period? Will it stop any offers of credit from being offered? Will it have ANY negative effects you can think of? [By the way, I WAS a victim of fraud a month or so ago but it was simply the "skimming" of my atm card, and I am quite sure it did not affect any other account as they had no info on any other account, they just somehow got a copy of my debit card.]

I had a fraud alert put on my reports in the fall of 2006 due to a previous brush with possible identity theft which I mentioned on here previously as to my SS number (thankfully it turned out not to be and was a mistake by the SS department - yes they do make them and this one was a doozy!). Anyway, with the fraud alerts on your reports, it blocks your reports from anyone going into your reports to open accounts or view credit information. If you want to apply for credit, you would need to contact the 3 CRAs to remove the fraud for that specific creditor to go in there and view your information. It will be like that for 3 months until the alert is automatically removed. When the alert is put on, you will receive information as to how to handle all that during the fraud alert period.

[PaKettle]

I went to www.myfico.com

I wanted to bump this as well as add some further info...
I really want to know if this "Equifax FICO score" is THE Fico score?
The offer for a free one was on the myfico.com site, but who knows if this is their offer or a sleazy offer from Equifax? I thought a FICO score was different than an Equifax score, but it says "Equifax FICO score" so I'm not sure what that means...Is it a Fico score or is it an Equifax score??

Meanwhile, I checked out truecredit.com and as I was closing the window after deciding not to sign up right now, a pop-up window asked me if I'd like to try it for FREE for a month, with a free TU report which includes a free TU credit score. So I said yes, gave them my cc info, and signed up for True Credit.com's service so I could see my TU report and my score.

I am moving the rest of my comments about this over to the Credit Rebuilding forum...

[PaKettle]

Can you dispute all 3 from within this service?
From what I can gather, Equifax has NO online disputing. Is that true?
Experian and TransUnion do have the ability to dispute online.

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

I wanted to bump this up to see if anyone has any more info on this question.

What is the best deal or the deal you used to get your scores?

I used annualcreditreport.com before filing and stupidly, did not get the scores then or sign up for a longer term when I could use a credit card. I know they were in the 700's though. My husband only got his Experian report (no scores) and must have done something like hit the wrong key or type the wrong password, cause he is locked out of the other two. Maybe he can call them, I don't know. Anyone got their scores by calling them?

Now we have filed and apparently you have to use a credit card to get the reports again and scores?

Can you use a debit card?

Can you use a zero balance credit card (if it works) for this during Ch7 or is that against the law?

Thanks in advance,
Grammy

[Priceless ProSe]

I wanted to bump this up to see if anyone has any more info on this question.

What is the best deal or the deal you used to get your scores?

I used annualcreditreport.com before filing and stupidly, did not get the scores then or sign up for a longer term when I could use a credit card. I know they were in the 700's though. My husband only got his Experian report (no scores) and must have done something like hit the wrong key or type the wrong password, cause he is locked out of the other two. Maybe he can call them, I don't know. Anyone got their scores by calling them?

Now we have filed and apparently you have to use a credit card to get the reports again and scores?

Can you use a debit card?

Can you use a zero balance credit card (if it works) for this during Ch7 or is that against the law?

Thanks in advance,
Grammy

You can use your debit card. Your annual credit report does not include scores, they charge for this. Make sure you save/print your free credit report if you gain access. If you forgot your password AND the answers to your security questions then you will indeed need to contact the respective company.

[joenjenking]

I use truecredit
Its 14.99 for all 3 each month.

[soleprop]

i'll consider truecredit in the future, but i paid the onetime $47+change at myfico.com and had a good experience; got all three reports and all three scores they report. seemed pretty point and click to me.