Posted by: Odysseas Papadimitriou

Free credit reports are available from several sources, including WalletHub, which is the first and only website to offer free credit reports and scores that are updated on a daily basis. WalletHub also provides an early-warning system for credit-report changes in the form of 24/7 credit monitoring, plus customized guidance to help you save more money. All you have to do is sign up (it’s 100% free).

Get Your Free Credit Report Now

But WalletHub isn’t the only place you can get a free credit report. The most important alternative is AnnualCreditReport.com, the government-sponsored site where we all can get a copy of each of our three major credit reports every 12 months. While WalletHub provides unlimited access to your full TransUnion credit report, updated daily, you can use AnnualCreditReport.com to review your other two reports from Experian and Equifax. But don’t check both at the same time. Review one of them now, and save the other one for later — say, six months from now. Pulling your Experian and Equifax reports in six-month rotations will help you ensure you’re not missing anything for an extended period of time. Just bear in mind that using only AnnualCreditReport.com would be a mistake, as it would blind you to credit-report changes for much of the year.

Below, you can learn more about how to check your reports from the big-three credit bureaus, as well as the 40+ other consumer reporting agencies that might have information on you.

Where To Get A Free Credit Report

 

Company	Credit-Bureau Source	Frequency of Report Update	Average User Rating	Free Credit Score Provided?	24/7 Credit Monitoring Provided?
WalletHub	TransUnion	Daily	5 Stars	Yes	Yes
AnnualCreditReport.com	TransUnion Equifax Experian	Annually	5 Stars	No	No
Bankrate	TransUnion	Monthly	4.5 Stars	Yes	No
Credit Karma	TransUnion Equifax	Weekly	4.5 Stars	Yes	Yes
Quizzle	TransUnion	Every 3 Months	4.3 Stars	Yes	Yes
FreeCreditReport.com	Experian	Monthly	3.0 Stars	No	No

A number of other services offer credit report access as part of a paid package. We don’t recommend using them simply because there are so many free alternatives, but you can learn all about all of your options from our full comparison of the best credit report sites.

Alternative Credit Reports

TransUnion, Experian and Equifax aren’t the only credit reporting agencies that track your financial performance. Tens of other companies across the country maintain data on your rent payments, check-writing history and insurance claims. Along with traditional credit data, this alternative information is then factored into the decisions made by financial institutions, landlords, employers and insurers.

Fortunately, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) entitles consumers to free annual copies of these “specialty” reports. You can order them directly from the companies that compile them and find contact information for each one on WalletHub’s Credit Reporting Agency Overview.

Why Check Your Credit Reports?

A lot of people think that checking their credit score once in a while or just a short period before they apply for credit is enough to get by, and many others don’t even think that far. The truth is that you’re bound to miss a lot if you don’t review at least one of your credit reports on a regular basis. And that’s problematic because what you don’t know about your credit can and will cost you.

More specifically, here are some of the biggest reasons why checking your credit report is important and what can happen if you don’t:

• Credit Bureaus Make Mistakes: Roughly one in four of us has a mistake on one of our major credit reports that is significant enough to result in rejection by a lender, landlord, insurer, employer or other type of creditor, according to a study by the Federal Trade Commission. And if you do manage to get approved for a loan or line of credit despite this disadvantage, you’ll wind up needlessly wasting money on a worse offer than you truly deserve.In other words, taking a few minutes to make sure your credit report is accurate – especially if your credit score isn’t excellent – is an investment that could save you big in terms of both time and money in the long run.

• Credit Reports Can Reveal Fraud: Financial fraud can take many forms, most of which will manifest on your credit report before anywhere else. The warning sign could be something as overt as an unknown account being opened in your name, a bankruptcy filing showing up in your public records or a collections account appearing unexpectedly. Or it could be something as simple as a change to your listed name and address. Regardless, you might not notice if you’re not plugged in to your credit report.“Many people think, ‘Well, I’m not about to apply for credit; I’m not about to get a loan; I don’t need to get my credit report,’” said Gail Cunningham, vice president of membership and public relations with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. “Yes, you do because you could be a victim of identity theft.”That’s why you should review your reports at least once a year, and make sure that your free-credit-report provider offers free 24/7 credit monitoring, too (like WalletHub!). This will give you day-to-day peace of mind. And that figures to be worthwhile regardless of your current financial situation or plans for the future.

• Improvement Requires Reflection: Reviewing your credit report will give you much-needed perspective, making it easier to determine what you’re doing right (g., on-time monthly payments) as well as which areas of your financial performance need improvement (e.g., high credit utilization). Both the good and the bad will inevitably affect your credit score, but they have to hit your credit report first, and they’ll be easier to diagnose when they’re there.WalletHub makes things easy on you by grading each component of your credit, telling you exactly where you’re excelling and lacking.

Some of these reasons are relevant all the time; others matter most when you’re planning to apply for a loan. A mistake on your credit report could cost you thousands of dollars in interest over the life of a mortgage, for instance. So try to review your report as regularly as possible, but be extra thorough in the months leading up to a loan or credit card application.

Ask the Experts: The Best Credit Reports in Life Are Free

Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to get a free credit report these days. But we could all stand to make some improvements in terms of how often we check and what we do with the information. So WalletHub convened a panel of personal finance experts for some tips and insights. Below, you can see who they are, what we asked them and how they recommend getting more from your free credit reports.

1. Do you think the average person knows how to get a free credit report?
2. Considering that credit reports are free, why don't people check them more often?
3. When you get your free credit report, what's the most important thing to do next?
4. Should people only get their credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com?
5. What are the downsides of checking your credit report no more than three times per year?

< >

• Jeff Sovern Assistant Professor of Law at St. John's University School of Law
• Melissa J. Wilmarth Assistant Professor of Consumer Sciences in the College of Human Environmental Sciences at the University of Alabama

Jeff Sovern Assistant Professor of Law at St. John's University School of Law

Do you think the average person knows how to get a free credit report?

No, but it's not hard to search the web to find out how. However, I suspect many consumers don't know why it is useful to check their credit reports regularly: to determine if someone has stolen their identity.

Considering that credit reports are free, why don't people check them more often?

Many consumers probably don't realize the value in doing so. Or their time is consumed by other activities, which they believe to be more pressing.

When you get your free credit report, what's the most important thing to do next?

Read it through to see if it is accurate. If you find a mistake, dispute the information with the credit bureau. Check also to see who has requested your credit report. If you don't recognize someone who has requested access to your credit report, that can also be a sign of a problem, including that an identity thief has applied for credit in your name or that your privacy has been invaded.

Should people only get their credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com?

Yes.

What are the downsides of checking your credit report no more than three times per year?

If you check your credit report only every four months (once with each of the big three credit bureaus per year), you run the risk that someone steals your identity shortly after you check the report and that you don't discover the fraud for four months or more. An identity thief can do a lot of damage in four months, and it can take a considerable amount of time and energy to set the record straight.

Melissa J. Wilmarth Assistant Professor of Consumer Sciences in the College of Human Environmental Sciences at the University of Alabama

Do you think the average person knows how to get a free credit report?

I think many consumers know they can get a free credit report, but may not know where to go for the report that is free as mandated by federal law. Many consumers may end up contacting credit bureaus directly or find a website that is fraudulent, or may end up requiring a purchase of some other product or service to get the report for free.

When you get your free credit report, what's the most important thing to do next?

The most important thing to do once receiving your free credit report is to read it and check for the accuracy of information on your report. If there is an error in the report, dispute the error with the credit reporting agency and the provider of the information (e.g., credit card company or bank).

Should people only get their credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com?

AnnualCreditReport.com is the only place to get a free credit report that is mandated by federal law from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Other websites may offer free credit reports or other monitoring services. What may happen is that consumers may end up paying for the credit report indirectly. For example, another website may only give a free credit report with a purchase on of their products or services, or consumers are billed for services that have to be cancelled later.

Image: PathDoc/Shutterstock

from Wallet HubWallet Hub


via Finance Xpress