Free Credit Reports are Your Right! Youve seen the ads: Get your free credit report here! The hard sell seems excessive since the report is free, right? Read the fine print. The Free Credit Report companies require a credit card that will not be billed as long as you cancel this service within 30 days of registering. If you forget to cancel in time, you may be required to pay over $20 a month for a listing of all your credit obligations, past and present. This does not mean that you shouldn't take advantage of the opportunity to review your credit report. Register for your free credit report, print out a copy and then call the toll free number immediately to save yourself the unplanned monthly fee. Be prepared to ignore the add-on sales efforts the website will send your way. They are likely to offer you your credit rating (a number that alerts potential lenders to their risk level of letting you borrow money) and for yet another fee, they will explain what you credit report and that number mean. Credit report vs Credit Rating A credit report lists all the important financial data about you. Good, and bad, it is all in there. You are guaranteed by the United States Government one (1) free credit report per year. You will not be required to input any credit card data at all. These are 100% free, and are part of a legislative package approved by congress, and signed by President Bush. What's the catch? Once you use your freebie, you either have to wait an entire year, or pay for your next one. Requesting a copy of your own credit report will not effect your credit rating. It is only effected when a creditor requests it. A credit score is a number used by creditors to determine your ability to repay loans. This number moves up or down based on your payment history. Timely payments increase your score, while late payments decrease your score. You are not guaranteed a free credit score. Visit http://www.dreamhouseproject.com for more information on how to obtain your free report directly from the three reporting agencies. |
