All consumers in the United States are entitled to a free credit report once a year by law as of September 2005. But since that law was passed there has been nothing but confusion.
Websites that say they are offering this so-called free credit report ask us to give them our credit card information. Sound like a free credit report?
You may have even given these companies your credit card number to sign up for a thirty-day trial for a credit service that has almost nothing to do with getting your free credit report.
To be fair, you can cancel this service after thirty days. But how many people do you think forget and end up with monthly or even yearly credit card charges?
In fact, these companies are counting on you to forget about the 30-day trial and charge that fee to your credit card. But if the law says you get a free report, what’s the deal?
Many people are confused about these free credit reports because of how some companies are marketing the free credit report. Hopefully, this information will clarify a few things for you.
For people who just want the bottom line, a free credit report is available at http://www.AnnualCreditReport.com and this is the only official site that helps consumers get their free annual credit report.
The security protocols of this site are excellent with physical and technological security and encryption. That’s important for identity theft purposes because the information on your credit report should only be seen by your eyes.
So if this site is available and anyone can get a free credit report once a year, what’s the big deal? Here’s the problem: The credit report you get from http://www.AnnualCreditReport.com doesn’t have any credit scores.
Now you may be asking, “So what’s the point of getting this free credit report without a credit score?” There are a few good reasons why you might want to see your credit report even without a credit score.
Did you know that more than forty percent of all credit reports have errors? If you spot these errors, you can fix them before they affect your credit score. If you contact a credit bureau about an error, they have to clear it up or remove it after thirty days by law.
By monitoring and reviewing your credit report, you can verify that you are not a victim of identity theft. If someone takes over your bills and collects thousands of dollars in debt, it can destroy your credit score in a matter of hours.
These are just a few good reasons why you want to get your free credit report once a year and inspect it just to make sure everything looks the way it should. You can get your free credit report online at http://www.AnnualCreditReport.com or by phone or mail.
So where do you get your credit score? This is where the confusion comes in and here is the answer. The law passed by Congress said nothing about a credit score, just one free credit report per year per consumer.
You have to pay for a service to get your credit score, and some companies confuse people with the way they market you. They offer you a free credit report and score, and many consumers think it’s their annual free credit report.
But if you have to sign up for a credit service that they offer for a 30-day trial period, do you think it’s free? What these companies are counting on is that you forget about the 30-day trial and charge a fee to your credit card after the trial period ends.
It’s in the fine print, but how many people actually read that. So here’s a good common sense rule of thumb. Every time you have to give out your credit card information, ask yourself, “Is this really free?”
Many of you probably know this is happening because you have been caught up in this type of marketing tactic. But for those of you who just want your free annual credit report, you can at least be aware of what’s really going on and have a sensible way to get it.
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