On 11.08.05, In The Three Credit Bureaus offer free credits reports but in reality they really aren’t free at all. If you fail to cancel the free trial you will be charged. But why pay when you can get them for free? What these bureaus don’t want you to know is that your report is 100% Free by law! I never understood how I could be charged for something that was already mine in the first place. Another benefit to keep in mind is that your credit report is free for "LIFE" once a year, every year! Your credit score is offered for free via Credit Karma. Here’s how to get it all for free.
On-line Access- For on-line access goto http://www.AnnualCreditReport.com. Once you access this link it will ask you select from which Agency you would like to view your report from first. You make your selection for each & each time you do you will be asked to answer some question to answers only YOU would know. If you don’t answer correctly then access will be denied until you do. Should this happen to you simply “X” out & start over. Continuing will prompt you to mail in your request. This little trick is worth doing vs. waiting for the mail.
Mailing Access – For access via mail follow this link to the proper request form at http://www.http://www.scribd.com/doc/3291112/Annual-Credit-Report. There you can print out the form or save to your computer to print later. I recommend both. One you have the form mail to: Annual Credit Report Request Service – P.O. Box 105281 – Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
Free Credit Score Access- Ok now we come to the free credit score. The credit reporting agencies also offered credit score as well & for an additional fee you can have it but we don’t want to have to pay now do we? Thats why I have found a way around having to pay that too. Simply goto http://www.creditkarma.com.
The site provides your credit score free of cost. You do have to register but there are no charges involved. The great thing about this site in addition to your credit scores they also provide a host of other valuable tools, resources & offers. Registration is quick & easy. You can access this site 24/7 365 free as many times as you want! Oh one last thing.
Now while you can access your credit score as many times as you want, every time you hit the “Update” your score your credit score may fall by two points each time. So be warned & only check the “updated” score when really needed. You can still logon to see that last update score as well as access the site resources without effecting your credit score just dont hit the “update” option.
Until my next article thanks for reading!
