As many of you know, we are all are entitled to a free credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies; Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, each and every year. You can go to annualcreditreport.com to obtain the free reports online.
I am sure most of you have heard of another company that is highly publicized, freecreditreport.com, which really isn't free. When you fill out the info on their site, you are asked for a credit card number and you are signing up for a monthly credit watch program. Great...if that is what you want. But if you only wanted your FREE credit report...it isn't so great. Skip that site and go to annualcreditreport.com where it is truly free. Once you get your reports, it is a good idea to check them for errors. If you find any, contact the reporting agency to have it corrected.
With the credit report you don't get your credit score, however. There is usually a charge for that. That score(referred to as a FICO score) is what creditors use to determine your credit worthiness. It helps them determine what interest rate you will receive. The higher your score the lower your interest rates will be.
With creditkarma.com you can receive a FREE credit score. It is the score that is reported by TransUnion. While it isn't a complete FICO score, it is a great compass to help you determine where you fall in the credit scoring range. Another is Quizzle.com, where you can get your Experian score. Again, this is not the same as the FICO score, but gives a good picture. While these services are free, both companies will provide you with offers for credit, credit monitoring and such. You can just ignore those and get your free scores.
Credit scores have a range between 300 and 850:
750 - 850 -- Excellent or Very Good Credit
680 - 749 -- Good Credit
620 - 679 -- Okay or Average Credit
580 - 619 -- Low Credit
500 - 580 -- Poor Credit
300 - 499 -- Bad Credit
You can use all this information to get a clear picture of your credit history. It is a good thing to know what your credit report and your credit score are prior to applying for a line of credit or a loan. Gives you a heads up.
