Credit Report and Score?
Is your credit score included in a credit report? Why or why not? I have been hearing different answers from different people. A friend of mine is also insisting that there is a website out there that gives you a free credit score, but I don't believe him. I was under the impression that you can get a free credit REPORT, but you need to pay to see the score. ~~ Abe
Public Comments
- That's generally what companies do, give you the report for free and make you pay to see the score. I think it's because they need to make money, and most people would rather see their score so the companies know they'll pay for it.
- Your free annual reports (mandated by law) can be had at www.annualcreditreport.com. You are correct - they do not include FICO scores. You have to use a paid site or service to get those unless your bank or credit union will run them for you. www.freecreditreport.com is a deceptive site run by Experian. It gives you "free" reports and scores but simultaneously enrolls you in a paid credit monitoring service.
- Yes you can get your free credit report. You are allowed one per year from each of the main 3 credit reporting agencies. To do this you need to go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com To get your score you will always have to pay for it. Depending on where you get it from they will run anywhere from about $8 to $16. Now there are sites that give you a "free" score. However to get that you need to sign up for membership in their service. They will usually give you a free 30 day trial, but if you don't cancel in 30 days you then end up paying.
- AnnualCreditReport.com is set up to give online access your free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus. You get one free per year from each bureau. However, the scores are not included. Credit bureaus use proprietary methods for score calculation. I believe Experian uses FICO and the other two use a different scale, commonly referred to as Fako. You can go to some sites and sign up for a free 30-day trial membership in their monitoring. You will get free reports and your score during that trial. You do have to give them a credit card as they start billing a monthly fee if you don't cancel within the 30 days. They do not make it easy to cancel. If you are really interested in your FICO score, go to MyFico.com. You still have to pay but you get a genuine FICO.
- newjerse is correct. Annualcreditreport.com is the official free credit report site. You get your free report once a year from each of the three reporting agencies. I rotate them and ask one for a report every four months. while you are getting your free report they will ask you to buy your credit score. You really have no use for your credit score. You look at the credit report to see if there are any errors or if someone is getting credit in your name. Your credit score is of no value to you except to satisfy your curiosity.
