credit report comparison

March 7, 2011

Checking Your Credit Rating For Free

Francine Denson asked:




These days more than ever, your credit rating dictates many aspects of your life. Credit reports and scores are being considered when you apply for financing to make a major purchase such as a house or car and are also being used by employers making hiring decisions. With so much emphasis on having a good credit rating, it is important that you keep tabs on your rating and scores. In this article, we will talk about how you can check your credit rating for free.

Everyone is entitled to a free credit report once per year from the Annual Credit Report Request Service. You can do this by writing to them at P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta GA 30348-5281. You will have to fill out paperwork and send it back to receive your credit report. If you are in a hurry, you should know that this process can take weeks to complete.

To check your credit for free and get the results much faster (instantly!), you should consider using one of the websites that offer this service. Just be careful, because not all of these services are the same. In fact, some of the most popular services (like the one with the catchy commercials) don’t offer you the full picture.

You see, data on your credit history is maintained by three different credit bureaus. These bureaus have different data and can assign you different scores. To get the full picture of your credit health, you should choose a credit report service that gives you access to data from all 3 bureaus. Not only that, but some sites only offer a single score, not all three unique credit scores. For help in understanding which service offers which options, please see the comparison reviews by following the link at the bottom of this article.

When you use one of these websites to acquire your scores and reports, you will probably be offered a free trial of a credit monitoring service. This is how they can afford to provide this service to everyone. If you don’t like the service, you can always cancel and not be charged. Honestly, most credit monitoring services are a worthy investment especially with identity theft on the rise. You may want to seriously consider keeping and using the service you find.

Thats about all there is to checking your credit data and doing it for free. It’s quite easy to get your hands on your report and scores. By using one of the many websites advertising a free credit report and scores, you can even access your information instantly no matter what time of day or night.

Lucille

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