Free Credit Reports

For security purposes, www.AnnualCreditReport.com can be accessed by typing the web address "www.annualcreditreport.com", or from links from the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov), Equifax (www.equifax.com), Experian (www.experian.com) and TransUnion (www.transunion.com) websites.

AnnualCreditReport.com is the only web source authorized by all three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies from which free annual credit file disclosures can be requested.

 

Thanks for the update. I ever liked how those commercials presented themselves to the public.

 

Bush just signed into law 1 free credit report per year for Americans..It starts out right away out West and will soon be in the south and midwest...It was a bill passed to help people watch themselves for identity theft and lazy reporters who are hurting borrowers by not updating their report...The Gov.t has fined some of these companies more than once for not attending to their "discrepency" toll free number.

 

I used this company last year. I thought they were very helpful. They gave me a free report, and they took my credit card for the membership. However, they gave me 30 days to cancel with no penalties. So being a cheapskate like you, I got the free credit report, and cancelled the membership right away. In essence a free credit report with no hassles.

 

All three would give you a single credit report for no charge before this year. What's the big deal?

I hope you all watched Frontline the other week "The Secret History of the Credit Card":

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/

You can watch it online or read the transcript. CC companies are the Devil in carnate...

There’s also a great programs on Wal-Mart and Tax Shelters (Tax me if you can)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/categories/b.html

 

Yes it is hard to figure it out if you don't read the fine print. BUt if you are such a cheapskate like me, you would rather spend hours so they don't charge a dime, then give them the satisfaction of getting your money.

Most of the times they are not. I mean for one person like me that cancelled on time, I bet there are 1000s of people who are paying this company. SO they made their money. All is good. But if you are a wary shopper chances are you won't get screwed. Its people who don't pay attention or are too busy that get charged. Inthat sense, I think its fine, because those people either make so much money that it doesn't matter, or are not intelligent enough to figure it out. Then I think they get what they deserve, and the owners of FreeCreditReport make money. Hey, they have to pay their mortgage too ya know

OOOH yeah. I remember when I first bought a place, that I had AOL. THis was about 4 years ago. They charged me for 18 months, and I had forgotten to check (using my aforementioned points, the company was right, and becuase I was careless should have to pay). However, when I found out, I called them, and told them to take the charges off. THey didn't do it. THis went on for 127 days. I wrote letters and even sent one to the President. Nothing happened. However, I wasn't going to succumb to cancelling my card because of them. I wrote another letter threatening legal action (though I didn't think I had any grounds since it was my fault for not reading the fine print). However, after they got the letter, not only did they refund my money for 18 months, they extended free 6 month service, which I used, and then they cancelled me after the usage, because I didn't renew.

Persistence pays off.

You have to rage against the dying of the light, even if the light is evil AOL.

 

For fun, I checked out my report today at transunion.

It looked like they weren't thrilled with the idea. They offer a free credit report, but to get your credit score (i.e. FICO score), you have to pay $5.95. Yet I can get that for free elsewhere!

This business of trying to sell information that's free elsewhere looks pretty tenuous.

We're all better off not using credit cards and not even having to worry about our credit report

 

NO....No....no....no....no......NO!!!

I'm not interested in a report. I am interested in the software to tweak it just like tweaking a Windows registry or the code in a html or Java editor. That would be of most value.

remember...

Computer information, though very powerful, is not always truth

 

Just because it's free, don't check your credit more than a couple of times per year. In Canada if your credit gets checked a lot, it goes in the toilet.

 

In today's age of ID theft I use a service called Trucredit offered by Transunion for $10 a quarter which also gives you 4 free reports a year. They will you send you an Email anytime any type of credit or other accounts are opened in your name and anything at all added to your history. $40 a year is small expense compared to the headache that ID theft would be