topic Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com in General Credit Topics

Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

MuddyGrimes — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:11:01 GMT

I am not eligible for my free credit reports until march...

I am looking for something that will give me full information if possible and not just the XXXXd partial information.

Thanks so much!!

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

laz98 — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:51:16 GMT

best place would be here. of course, this is not the cheapest place, but you can find discount codes online! :smileywink:

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

guiness56 — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:26:56 GMT

The best place to get your CR would be directly from the CRAs. You can get all three reports at one site. It will cost a bit more but it should have more information than the reports you would get here.

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

Royal27 — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 07:53:42 GMT

How about truecredit.com for $14.95 per month? If you are just looking for reports, not scores. The fact that you can update daily is great.

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

wmarat — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:47:55 GMT

1. Directly from CRA.

2. Myfico.com

3. Truecredit

4. PM 123

5. CreditCheckTotal

6. Chase ID Protect

7. Chase Identity Protect

8. Amex CreditSecure.

All above services are daily pullers. You pay for each pull if you pull directly from CRA. Myfico.com offers different services.

Citi Identity Monitor monthly puller

BOA service is quartal service.

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

Goal810 — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:54 GMT

I am in the process of refinancing and so received all 3 scores. I check a free report through 1 of the three agencies every 4 months.

What is the cheapest way to periodically monitor what my scores are? 3 times/year would probably be enough for me.

Thanks!

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

llecs — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 02:16:56 GMT

Goal810 wrote:
I am in the process of refinancing and so received all 3 scores. I check a free report through 1 of the three agencies every 4 months.

What is the cheapest way to periodically monitor what my scores are? 3 times/year would probably be enough for me.

Thanks!

Virtually all of the sites out there offer scores, but nearly all of them are not FICO scores. They are non-FICO scores we call FAKOs. The only place you can get your EQ and TU FICO together without the help of a lender is myFICO. You can't buy your EX FICO from anywhere. There are other sources for your FICO, but not together from the same source.

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

Goal810 — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:17:31 GMT

Virtually all of the sites out there offer scores, but nearly all of them are not FICO scores. They are non-FICO scores we call FAKOs. The only place you can get your EQ and TU FICO together without the help of a lender is myFICO. You can't buy your EX FICO from anywhere. There are other sources for your FICO, but not together from the same source.

None of the options look cheap: http://www.myfico.com/Products/Products.aspx

In order to get all 3 FICO scores, it looks like I have to buy the $50 package? I would want to check all 3 scores maybe 3 times/year. The $4.95/month FICO package would give me access to just 1 score, right?

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

GregB — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:27:54 GMT

You can't get three "real" credit scores from anywhere. Any site that gives you a score from all three CRAs is selling you worthless FAKOs.

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

llecs — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:31:49 GMT

Goal810 wrote:

None of the options look cheap: http://www.myfico.com/Products/Products.aspx

In order to get all 3 FICO scores, it looks like I have to buy the $50 package? I would want to check all 3 scores maybe 3 times/year. The $4.95/month FICO package would give me access to just 1 score, right?

You cannot buy all 3 FICOs. Experian will not let you buy your EX FICO. Experian blocked consumer access to your EX FICO 3 years ago, but you can still get it with the help of the lender.

Be sure to read the product descriptions carefully. The $50 product is basically a prepaid plan for 3 FICO reports of your choosing between EQ and TU only. So, you can get all 3 EQ reports, all 3 TU reports or 2 of one and 1 of the other. You control when you want to pull. The reports are basically $20/each so you save $10 through this product. It also has some nifty feature on getting out of debt.

The $5/mo package is TU FICO Quarterly monitoring. It too is basically a pre-paid plan for your TU FICO report only. Your credit isn't monitored (though certain demogrpahic info is monitored frequently like name, address, SSN, and other items related to ID theft) but the product includes 4 TU FICO reports per year. You also get 20% discounts on future TU pulls and you save $20/yr of the cost of your reports, which isn't too bad. It's like buying 3 and getting one for free.

The list is VERY short for places to get your FICO scores:

Equifax-

Your can buy your EQ FICO from your lender, myFICO.com, or through www.equifax.com/myfico-products. If you have an account, you can also get it through M&T Bank at $2.99/mo (score only). If you are a member, you can also get your EQ FICO through Unitus Community Credit Union and Digital Credit Union for free once per month (no report). Finally, you can get your report and score for free through saveandinvest.org if you happen to be active duty military.

TransUnion-

You can buy your TU FICO from your lender or from myFICO.com. If you have a Wal-Mart CC, you can also get a newer version of your TU FICO for free each month (score only). And if you are a member of Partners First CU in KY, you can get your TU FICO and report for free semi-annually. Finally, if you are active duty military, you can get your TU FICO report for free.

Experian-

Experian blocked consumer access to your EX FICO score. YOu cannot buy it from anywhere without the help of a lender (and an inquiry). However, PA State Employee Credit Union (PSECU) offers a free EX FICO score each month on your checking statement if you happen to bank with them.

Outside of the above, there are some CUs that offer a complimentary review of your credit report and FICO score. Check with a CU near you to see if they offer that service. Some do and some do not.

All other scores from all other sources are not FICO scores and should be ignored. What many of us do to save $$$ is to subscribe to a credit monitoring service. We'll review out credit reports on a daily or week basis often and as we see changes to our TU or EQ reports, then we'll come back here and purchase a new report to see that score change. It's selective targeting a pull and saves money over blindly pulling and hoping for a change. Almost all of these credit monitoring services offer scores, but none are FICO scores and should be ignored. If a non FICO score increases, then it doesn't mean your FICO increased too. Often they can move in opposite directions and I've had the scores vary by as much as 225 points when compared the same day.

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

Goal810 — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:45:18 GMT

Thanks, terrific summary of the options, I will look into them.

So you when you say that you do selective credit score pulls, that means that you pay the $19.95 on the My Fico site to get 1 credit score? Or you would check both for $40? Or is there a cheaper way?

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

llecs — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:57:22 GMT

I'm about real-time info. Very rarely do each CRA update at the same time when a new account is added, balance updates, etc. Sometimes there are days/weeks in terms of lag. But I'll pull a new report each day via my CMS and if something changes that I think might warrant a FICO change, then I'll pull that EQ or TU FICO report vs. both at the same time (because they won't update at the same time). Usually TU is slower and I'll come back to them a couple-few days later to see that update if the CMS shows that change. And yes, it is the FICO Standard $19.95/pull. I also subscribe to TU Quarterly Monitoring and SW so I get that 20% and 30% discount respectively.

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

Goal810 — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 01:41:18 GMT

So I looked into the options extensively. If it will help anyone else, I found out that anyone can get membership in Digital Credit Union by joining one of the eligible member organizations. To get the free credit score, you have to sign up for direct deposit.

Is it crazy for me to switch all my banking and direct deposit to DCU for the equifax score and open a Walmart Discover credit card for the transunion score? I can just charge a few dollars each month on it to keep it open since there is no Walmart in my area and no annual fee. I already have a Discover card, I can still open this Walmart card right?

Not eligible for the PA credit union so will have to forget about Experian. Getting monthly Equifax and Transunion scores will allow me to do some interesting experiements like jello did.

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

Goal810 — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 18:01:28 GMT

I just pulled my Transunion report for free online and it doesn't give information on how to improve my score.

If I open an account with DCU and sign-up for a Walmart credit card, will I get the details on how to improve my score along with the actual scores themselves?

Thanks!

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

llecs — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 18:50:04 GMT

Goal810 wrote:
I just pulled my Transunion report for free online and it doesn't give information on how to improve my score.

If I open an account with DCU and sign-up for a Walmart credit card, will I get the details on how to improve my score along with the actual scores themselves?

Thanks!

If you pulled a TU report for free online, then know that their score(s) aren't FICO scores and the advice is FAKO-related. Ignore it. Sometimes taking a FAKO-based CMS' advice is counter-productive to FICO and can actually harm your FICO in some cases.

I never used DCU, but Wal-Mart will give the top two negative reason codes for your TU08 FICO. And of course you'll see your TU08 FICO. With DCU, I'm not sure what comes with it but you'll get your Beacon 5.0 FICO (same as on here).

You can see more detail on your FICO reports. They show you which accounts hurt your FICO and up to the top four negative things that hurt your FICO and up to the top 4 things that help your FICO, YMMV depending on your credit.

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

jsucool76 — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 18:50:05 GMT

Walmart Kind of gives you information about how to improve you score....

I'll put myself on display here, I don't really care :P

Example:

It tells me that my history is short and that having a longer history would help...is that information really something I couldn't have figured out otherwise...not really. But I'm sure it has other things it tells you too if you happen to be in a different situation

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

mf91745 — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 18:12:34 GMT

I'm looking into this myself (the best way to get credit reports), for the sake of credit repair. I'm not interested in scores at this point -- just the raw credit reports.

It seems that the cheapest way to get your TU report is to buy the MyFico ScoreWatch (10-day free trial, $14.95/mo thereafter); and the best way to get EQ report is to buy the MyFico "FICO Quarterly Monitoring" package ($4.95/mo). Both are offered here: http://www.myfico.com/Products/Products.aspx. This is cheap if you cancel right after you get your reports. But I don't know if they'll let you do it again at a later time.

If you know of other cheap methods, let me know. I'm probably going to have to look at my reports fairly often, as I do credit repair.

Thanks.

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

llecs — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 18:19:28 GMT

mf91745 wrote:
I'm looking into this myself (the best way to get credit reports), for the sake of credit repair. I'm not interested in scores at this point -- just the raw credit reports.

It seems that the cheapest way to get your TU report is to buy the MyFico ScoreWatch (10-day free trial, $14.95/mo thereafter); and the best way to get EQ report is to buy the MyFico "FICO Quarterly Monitoring" package ($4.95/mo). Both are offered here: http://www.myfico.com/Products/Products.aspx. This is cheap if you cancel right after you get your reports. But I don't know if they'll let you do it again at a later time.

If you know of other cheap methods, let me know. I'm probably going to have to look at my reports fairly often, as I do credit repair.

Thanks.

Actually reverse...SW offers monitoring of EQ and FICO Quarterly Monitoring of TU.

If scores are not important at all, then skip myFICO all together. Subscribe to a credit monitoring service somewhere. Some offer daily pulls of all 3 reports, vs. 1 in the myFICO products. Check out the Credit Monitoring Service Guide found stickied here somewhere.

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

mf91745 — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 20:30:00 GMT

Found it!

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Credit-Monitoring-Service-CMS-Guide/td-p/662549

Thanks!

It looks like EIDT and USAA are the best deals, if you want daily pulls.

Re: Best and cheapest place to get credit report other than annualcreditreport.com

llecs — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:09:53 GMT

mf91745 wrote:
It looks like EIDT and USAA are the best deals, if you want daily pulls.

I haven't updated the list like I should have. EIDT still does daily pulls. USAA's CMS underwent some changes within the past year and I thought the daily option was still an option at a higher price, though others have corrected me. I might need an edit there.