There's no way you can have been watching TV lately and not have been assailed by those commercials from companies that offer you a free credit report. It's amazing but people often don't stop and question what financial justification a company would have, running a nationwide advertising campaign, in order to offer a free product to the public. There has to be at least some kind of revenue generation if only to justify the cost of making and running the commercials. Even if they seem to be looking out for you by showing you what could happen to you should you fail to get your free credit report, there has to be some kind of benefit for them in the whole thing.
Where does the truth lie (I know, wrong choice of words) when it comes to those free offers. It's true that with all the publicity that has been given to scams of all nature, people have grown increasingly wary of free offers. Yet if the ads keep airing it's because some people are still biting. Which begs the question: which of these offers (if any) are really free?
The short version of the answers to these questions would simply be "No, they are typically not free", and "Yes, they mostly come with strings attached". If you're the type of person who like more detailed answers, then feel free to read on. A more detailed answer would be that just about any offer you see advertised on TV is NOT free, and so are most of the offers you see online. There are free offers, though, and we can help you sort out the free variety from the paid variety.
Most of the free credit report offers do cost money. Most of them, even the ones that are sent out by major banks and lending firms, are really subscription services that let you view your credit report when you want to. Those services are offered directly by the lending companies, or indirectly by one or more of the three major credit bureaus. Experian, Equifax and Transunion are the "big three" credit reporting firms, and because of their clout the other credit bureaus have become largely irrelevant.
Many of the free credit report offers come from another industry that has been largely fueled by the rise of identity theft: we're referring to the "identity protection" businesses. Because of the large amount of publicity gathered by the people who have fallen victim to identity theft, people are more inclined to check what's in their credit report and many of them focus on the "free" part of the offers that are advertised to them. Yet the fine print on these offers makes it pretty clear that upon signing up, you're also enrolling for some sort of credit monitoring service, at a cost of $6.95 to $19.95 per month, for a period of three months to a year. The service alerts you of suspicious activity on your account, reports credit inquiries suppsedly made by you, and notifies you of late-payment notices that pop up on your account.
Because of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the "big three" credit bureaus are legally obligated to give anyone who asks for it one free credit report every year, which means that you're eligible for three free credit reports a year. Whether you request it online, by mail, or over the phone, be sure to follow the instructions given to you so that you can receive your free, no strings attached credit report.
Here are some of the circumstances where a free credit report is legally available to you. 1) When a company denies your credit, insurance or employment application based on information that was in your credit report - you have 60 days from the occurrence to file your request. 2) You're unemployed and are planning to look for a job within 60 days. 3) You're on welfare. 4) Your believe your credit report contains errors and wish to review it.
In case you didn't know it, there's a tremendous amount of competition in the banking industry. In order to keep customers or bring in new ones, banks constantly have to improve their offerings. So some banks have been offering a free credit report, and some form of basic online service that allows you to view and monitor your credit score, when you do business with them, either by getting a credit card issued by them or opening up a bank account with them. Highly desirable (and equally selective) credit cards issuers, such as American Express, also offer their best consumers very competitive packages of services, with credit report access and monitoring almost always being included at no extra cost.
There is no reason to pay for any service if all you need to do is look at your credit report every now and then to make sure that your information is correct. For this you can either get all three credit reports for comparison purposes, or space them 4 months apart for continuous monitoring and prevention of identity theft. Should you want to watch your credit more closely, there are plenty of companies out there that offer these services as part of their package of services, avoiding you the extra cost you'd have to incur by going with a dedicated service.
With so many aspects of your life being impacted by your credit report (credit, insurance, employment), there's no need to stress the importance of monitoring your credit report. Should you spot any errors, you should definitely take action as soon as possible to correct them. And there's no reason why you shouldn't be on top of this: odds are, you won't even have to pay to get your credit reports.
Where does the truth lie (I know, wrong choice of words) when it comes to those free offers. It's true that with all the publicity that has been given to scams of all nature, people have grown increasingly wary of free offers. Yet if the ads keep airing it's because some people are still biting. Which begs the question: which of these offers (if any) are really free?
The short version of the answers to these questions would simply be "No, they are typically not free", and "Yes, they mostly come with strings attached". If you're the type of person who like more detailed answers, then feel free to read on. A more detailed answer would be that just about any offer you see advertised on TV is NOT free, and so are most of the offers you see online. There are free offers, though, and we can help you sort out the free variety from the paid variety.
Most of the free credit report offers do cost money. Most of them, even the ones that are sent out by major banks and lending firms, are really subscription services that let you view your credit report when you want to. Those services are offered directly by the lending companies, or indirectly by one or more of the three major credit bureaus. Experian, Equifax and Transunion are the "big three" credit reporting firms, and because of their clout the other credit bureaus have become largely irrelevant.
Many of the free credit report offers come from another industry that has been largely fueled by the rise of identity theft: we're referring to the "identity protection" businesses. Because of the large amount of publicity gathered by the people who have fallen victim to identity theft, people are more inclined to check what's in their credit report and many of them focus on the "free" part of the offers that are advertised to them. Yet the fine print on these offers makes it pretty clear that upon signing up, you're also enrolling for some sort of credit monitoring service, at a cost of $6.95 to $19.95 per month, for a period of three months to a year. The service alerts you of suspicious activity on your account, reports credit inquiries suppsedly made by you, and notifies you of late-payment notices that pop up on your account.
Because of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the "big three" credit bureaus are legally obligated to give anyone who asks for it one free credit report every year, which means that you're eligible for three free credit reports a year. Whether you request it online, by mail, or over the phone, be sure to follow the instructions given to you so that you can receive your free, no strings attached credit report.
Here are some of the circumstances where a free credit report is legally available to you. 1) When a company denies your credit, insurance or employment application based on information that was in your credit report - you have 60 days from the occurrence to file your request. 2) You're unemployed and are planning to look for a job within 60 days. 3) You're on welfare. 4) Your believe your credit report contains errors and wish to review it.
In case you didn't know it, there's a tremendous amount of competition in the banking industry. In order to keep customers or bring in new ones, banks constantly have to improve their offerings. So some banks have been offering a free credit report, and some form of basic online service that allows you to view and monitor your credit score, when you do business with them, either by getting a credit card issued by them or opening up a bank account with them. Highly desirable (and equally selective) credit cards issuers, such as American Express, also offer their best consumers very competitive packages of services, with credit report access and monitoring almost always being included at no extra cost.
There is no reason to pay for any service if all you need to do is look at your credit report every now and then to make sure that your information is correct. For this you can either get all three credit reports for comparison purposes, or space them 4 months apart for continuous monitoring and prevention of identity theft. Should you want to watch your credit more closely, there are plenty of companies out there that offer these services as part of their package of services, avoiding you the extra cost you'd have to incur by going with a dedicated service.
With so many aspects of your life being impacted by your credit report (credit, insurance, employment), there's no need to stress the importance of monitoring your credit report. Should you spot any errors, you should definitely take action as soon as possible to correct them. And there's no reason why you shouldn't be on top of this: odds are, you won't even have to pay to get your credit reports.
About the Author:
We have been advising people for years to get a really free credit report with no trial, instead of paying for the service. For more of the same type of quality financial advice, feel free to drop by our personal finance blog.
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