General Credit Topics

[HiLine]

Apparently you get a free report from each consumer reporting agency every 12 months, not calendar year, according to this page:

http://businessidtheft.org/Resources/PersonalCreditProtection/FreeAnnualCreditReport/tabid/108/Defau...

Can someone please verify this? 

[RobertEG]

Yes, it is truly free.

The free report requirement is set forth in the FCRA, and is once every 12 months.  It's a revolving window.

Unlike other commercial sites, annualcreditreport.com was established under approval of the FTC as the method for the big three CRAs to comply with the statutotory requirement.  Their reports tend to be more comprehensive than commercial credit reports, most likely due to ensuring they comply with the statutory mandate.

However, that is not to say that the site is totally non-commercial.  They also offer credit scores when you log in.

If not interested, you can simply check no, get your free report, and log off.

[BikerMama]

Yes, I ran mine in December 2011 and was not able to run it again until December 2012.

[HiLine]

Thanks for the confirmations! 

[webhopper]

The FREE Credit Report's come from annualcreditreport.com. They tend to have more info on them than ones from a 3rd party. The Credit Reports from annualcreditreport.com, come directly from each of the CRA's. You can pull 1 Free Credit Report from TU, EQ and EX every 12 months.

Save your money and Don't Buy the Scores

[HiLine]

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webhopper wrote:

The FREE Credit Report's come from annualcreditreport.com. They tend to have more info on them than ones from a 3rd party. The Credit Reports from annualcreditreport.com, come directly from each of the CRA's. You can pull 1 Free Credit Report from TU, EQ and EX every 12 months.

Save your money and Don't Buy the Scores

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Do you know if these free reports are the same ones sent to creditors when they pull from the CRA's? 

[webhopper]

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HiLine wrote:

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webhopper wrote:

The FREE Credit Report's come from annualcreditreport.com. They tend to have more info on them than ones from a 3rd party. The Credit Reports from annualcreditreport.com, come directly from each of the CRA's. You can pull 1 Free Credit Report from TU, EQ and EX every 12 months.

Save your money and Don't Buy the Scores

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Do you know if these free reports are the same ones sent to creditors when they pull from the CRA's? 

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The information is the same...  creditors may want the report in a certain format, that is something that can be industry specific.  furthermore, the way they score your credit report can use an industry specific scoring model... such as an auto enhanced or credit card enhanced scoring model, which gives more weight to certain types of history on certain types of accounts.  Otherwise, yes, the information is the same..  formatting is not as important as the actual data itself

[Shogun]

Actually it's more detailed then the ones that creditors can pull.  You can see the soft inquiries whereas the creditors cannot.

[HiLine]

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webhopper wrote:

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HiLine wrote:

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webhopper wrote:

The FREE Credit Report's come from annualcreditreport.com. They tend to have more info on them than ones from a 3rd party. The Credit Reports from annualcreditreport.com, come directly from each of the CRA's. You can pull 1 Free Credit Report from TU, EQ and EX every 12 months.

Save your money and Don't Buy the Scores

---

Do you know if these free reports are the same ones sent to creditors when they pull from the CRA's? 

---

The information is the same...  creditors may want the report in a certain format, that is something that can be industry specific.  furthermore, the way they score your credit report can use an industry specific scoring model... such as an auto enhanced or credit card enhanced scoring model, which gives more weight to certain types of history on certain types of accounts.  Otherwise, yes, the information is the same..  formatting is not as important as the actual data itself

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I asked that question because I know my annual free Equifax report contains more information than my Score Watch Power Report does, and was suspecting if there is yet another level of credit report that is even more detailed.

Thanks webhopper and Shogun for responding!