@Sk323i wrote:
New User here -- what is the best resource to utilize in getting a comprehensive credit history report -- without paying extensive monthly or annual fee's?
Are you looking to avoid paying at all or do you have a budget in mind?
Are you just performing a one time pull for each CRA or are you looking to perform routine pulls? If so, how often do you want to pull reports?
Do you need to be able to view soft pulls?
Always clarify exactly what you mean whenver you use the word "best". The word is highly subjective and it's difficult to determine what it meant without the specifics. If there one one universal best option then we would all use that option and no one would use anything else. The reality, like anything else, is that people have differing needs/wants/budgets/etc and use different options based on those requirements.
@Sk323i wrote:
Why should I ignore the scores? Where can I get scores? Is it not important to also get the Experian information?
"Ignore the scores" is a bit of an oversimplification. With any score you need to consider the relevance of the score. If you have creditors that actually use VantageScore 3.0 based on TU and/or EQ then you'd certainly want to pay attention to the scores from CK. However, most creditors use a FICO but even FICO has a number of different scoring models (see also the Understanding FICO Scoring subforum and its stickies) and you cannot use a score generated by one model to determine a score generated by another model. If you want to know what score a creditor will pull for you then you need to know the model and CRA and then go pull that score.
As stated above, it's generally recommended to focus on the data in your reports instead of fixating on the numbers. Good reports will lead to good scores as any score is generated based on the data in a report.
The Experian information is certianly important. You should routinely check reports with all 3 of the major CRA's. CAPTOOL was just pointing out Credit Karma as one free option for monitoring TU and EQ reports.
