Unlike free credit reports your free credit score is not information that you
can get for free. You might be familiar with these online ads: "Get a 3-in-1
free credit report and score delivered instantly online" or "Free 3-in-1 credit
report and 3 credit scores online in seconds!" or even "Get your free credit
report and score with a 30-day trial".
What does the word at the last ads mean? Yes, you can view your credit score for
free but only during trial period. Some web sites warn you that the offer is not
related to the free credit report that you are entitled to under the federal
law. But some others ask to give them our credit card information hope that we
forget to cancel this service after thirty days.
Reasons to Regularly Check Credit Report and Score
Your credit score indicates your creditworthiness. Even though the precise
formula used to develop the credit score is not published the factors such as
the amount of money you owed to creditors, payment history, whether you are
seeking new extensions of credit, and the types of credit lines that you
currently hold affect your credit rating.
Your credit score determines the approval of your loan application and even the
cost of loan. Every time you apply for credit, your lender will check your score
to know how likely you'll repay your debt. Since your credit score is calculated
based on information on your credit report, any error or mistakes or
inaccuracies could affect your credit score.
For those reasons, it is essential that you regularly check your credit report
and credit score to keep track of any adverse changes that could lower down your
score. But here is the thing that confuses us. Can we get free online credit
score like the way we get our yearly free credit report?
Obtaining Your Free Credit Scores
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) you can get free credit report online
once every 12 months at AnnualCreditReport.com. But the free credit report
doesn't have any credit scores. If you want to request your credit scores you
have to pay a "fair and reasonable fee" -- determined by the Federal Trade
Commission.
The three major credit reporting agencies charge a small fee whenever you order
a copy of your credit rating. In fact, some credit report companies are
confusing consumers by offering them a free credit report and score that are not
part of the mandated free annual credit report program.
These credit report services actually sell your credit score and advice for
improving it for a fee. The "free credit score' or "free credit monitoring"
comes with strings attached. Some imposter sites use "free" terms and try to
make you to believe that their offers are a part of your annual free credit
report. But if you sign up for that "free" service you will have to pay once
that 30 day trial period is over.
So obtaining free credit score is different from ordering free annual credit
report. You can order a copy of your annual free credit report through AnnualCreditReport.com.
However, you cannot view your credit score for free. If you want to check your
credit score you may
even need to sign up for thirty days free trial period with a credit card.
