Question
Since you can get one free report from each of the 3 CRA's every 12 months, do you space them by requesting one report from different CRA every 4 months or do you pull all 3 at the same time ?
The free reports do not provide FICO, which is an additional cost of $5 to $10 I believe.
If the purpose of pulling the reports is to verify the accuracy of data and to prevent identity theft, would it make more sense to pull the report every 4 months ?
Below is the URL, come March 06, residents from another 13 states will become eligible to get the reports (the program is phrasing in from Dec 2004 by batches of states)
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
Answer
I used all three of mine last year. I spaced them out to make sure that everything was correct. The biggest realization that I came upon was how different the information the three of them had was. All of them were accurate with the information provided, but no one of the reports had ALL of my credit information.
Another great thing is that when you get your free score, the agency offers you a FICO score at a reduced price. The $5-$10 you mentioned is much better than the typical $15+ when you get the report and score.
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I took them all out to make sure nothing showed up on any credit report. In the next time around, I will rotate my requests.
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I used all three of mine last year. I spaced them out to make sure that everything was correct. The biggest realization that I came upon was how different the information the three of them had was. All of them were accurate with the information provided, but no one of the reports had ALL of my credit information.
Another great thing is that when you get your free score, the agency offers you a FICO score at a reduced price. The $5-$10 you mentioned is much better than the typical $15+ when you get the report and score.
Thanks for your input.
So they contain the personal information of name, ssn, date of birth, address, and then the loans, credit cards, that you ever received and the payment history of them, right ? I wonder which CRA the major credit card issuers use the most ? (such as Citi, Chase, MBNA, BofA, whom do they use the most ?) Can you tell from the reports you received (by the credit card history), which of the CRA's the big issuers tend to use ?
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I took them all out to make sure nothing showed up on any credit report. In the next time around, I will rotate my requests.
Ditto
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I found out about this program a few months ago and requested a single report, with the intent to request reports every 3-4 months. I agree that each company has different content, and a few years ago noticed a strange address on a report, so errors do happen, and it is best to find and fix before you need to depend on the contents to get credit, etc... Note that requesting your own report does not count against you in any way in terms of credit/hits on your FICO score.
TT
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Since you can get one free report from each of the 3 CRA's every 12 months, do you space them by requesting one report from different CRA every 4 months or do you pull all 3 at the same time ?
The free reports do not provide FICO, which is an additional cost of $5 to $10 I believe.
If the purpose of pulling the reports is to verify the accuracy of data and to prevent identity theft, would it make more sense to pull the report every 4 months ?
Below is the URL, come March 06, residents from another 13 states will become eligible to get the reports (the program is phrasing in from Dec 2004 by batches of states)
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
I had to wait until late last year as my state ( Virginia ) was one of the last ones to be allowed to have free credit reports. I did request the reports from all 3 at the same time so that i could compare. But now i plan to space them out so that i can get new credit report every 4 months from different bureau.
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Thanks for your input.
So they contain the personal information of name, ssn, date of birth, address, and then the loans, credit cards, that you ever received and the payment history of them, right ? I wonder which CRA the major credit card issuers use the most ? (such as Citi, Chase, MBNA, BofA, whom do they use the most ?) Can you tell from the reports you received (by the credit card history), which of the CRA's the big issuers tend to use ?
I can't really say which one they seem to use the most. My one card with a major bank is too new to test if it showed up on all three. The other differences all had to do with loans that I had through local banks and student loans.
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I used all three of mine last year. I spaced them out to make sure that everything was correct. The biggest realization that I came upon was how different the information the three of them had was. All of them were accurate with the information provided, but no one of the reports had ALL of my credit information.
Another great thing is that when you get your free score, the agency offers you a FICO score at a reduced price. The $5-$10 you mentioned is much better than the typical $15+ when you get the report and score.
Same for me!
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I space mine out. Virginia was one of the last to join this, so I just requested my second report.
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Yes, we have and it was interesting to see.
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I ordered Equifax in Sept 05 and Experian in Jan 06. Planning to do Transunion in May. All for free.
I had bought all 3, including the scores, in early 05. It gave me a chance to clean them up before applying for my mortage. All had 1 to 3 closed accounts showing as open and other minor mistakes.
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I used the site as well. Didn't pull my score, but now that I know it is only $5 I will next time. Wife found an error in her name which was amusing.
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It goes without saying, if you need a mortgage / car loan or whatever loan, you should pull all 3 at once and pay for the FICO.
If your purpose is to monitor ID theft and to see what mistakes that might be there, you might be better off to space it every 4 months.
I also have another thought, if husband and wife have very similar financial situation, would it be even better to space it the way that you get one report (of either spouse) every 2 months ?
For those who found mistakes, is it difficult for you to have them corrected ?
I read some horror stories about how difficult to get errors corrected, particularly if unfortunately your name was mixed up with someone else ...
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Just pulled all three reports this afternoon. Paid Experian 5.95 for my 'credit score' and ended up with a proprietary number that was outside the ranges of FICO. Feeling a little bit had.
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Just pulled all three reports this afternoon. Paid Experian 5.95 for my 'credit score' and ended up with a proprietary number that was outside the ranges of FICO. Feeling a little bit had.
Did Experian make it clear that is not FICO but a proprietary number, when solicitating the extra 5.95 for such information ?
That is such a lowly scam from Experian if they disguise such "proprietary number" as FICO.
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Duplicate post
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Did Experian make it clear that is not FICO but a proprietary number, when solicitating the extra 5.95 for such information ?
That is such a lowly scam from Experian if they disguise such "proprietary number" as FICO.
They do make it quite clear that it is not a FICO score, but a PLUS score. I think the word FICO doesn't even appear anywhere on its web site.
I have been told by a few people in the know, that in general west coast lenders use Experian more often that the other two. As someone who lives on the west coast I have notcied this to be true, probably about 70% of all inquiries, the rest split 15/15 between TransUnion and Equifax.
I also subscribe to a monitoring service for $80 (I think) a year where I get emailed whenever a change to my report occurs. 4 months of unpaid bills can cause a world of hurt if someone uses your info to open an account. $80 a year for peace of mind is well worth it IMHO.
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I used to own a credit repair co. in Vega$ and I currently counsel youth and people trying to repair and start credit so let me share a few things. Some of he "TRIAL" offers can give you a FICO for free with report, but most are from just one CRA. Traditionally the CRA are broken up regionaly, EQ=East TU=Mid EX=West(Used to be TRW). Simple things like the same phone# and/or address can make up as much as 40-100 points. Paying off a collection can change a -120 points to a -20-40, thats huge for an FHA. Don't close any credit card accounts this will hurt you, and zero out department stores first, they are the worst, they spell out IMPULSIVE, lenders don't like that, if you went over any balances on your report,you may be able to lose the card and get a new one, the new acct can cancel out the old one, same history but they don't like to report you over limit again, it costs them $$$. Sometimes old accounts are good on your record as long as they were in good standing, you can request an old carloan or acct to report again. Generally the CRA report the last 2 years of activity but will show late 60,90,120 and R9's collections and charge offs. If you were late just on a 30, most don't report, and if you have a late from a year or 2 ago try calling the company and asking them to remove it, once they revue your acct. and see you been good for the last year or 2 they wil most likely do it for you, always take notes, who, what, when, I find 3pm on a Friday thier time is best. If you are inquiring about a car or home loan you by law all the inquires will count as 1 as long as it is in a 14 day window, as a rule use 10 and check new laws as they change. All personal inq. are ding free(soft hits) as well as all those CC co.s on the back page. Suze Orman has a good sight with lots of useful info and a FICO service and as far as the breaking it up theory, I wouldn't do that, a lot can happen in a week, check my post here http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=513918... Whew...
Ok, like 2lazytothinkofname said ^ , it's worth it to sleep at night, using the monitoring service is good, most ID thieves get new credit at a new address, theres over 400 million people in the databases, cant keep up or they can latch on to your credit and not raise any flags, via dumpster diving, shoulder surfing, remember all that info you filled out at the Dr.s and dentists office? Booo!!! hear about the new celphone scam? I use a service coupled with a legal protection company in case i'm sued, all for under $27 a month, I find a letter from my attorney to a collector works better than mine, it's included in my memberhip, remember, the creditors have you hostage pay or be reported, you can spend a few hundred hours doing it yourself, time is money if anyone wants more info I'll send you the guys link, I used the included service recently to review a balance transfer offer, all i can say is the terms can change at anytime and if you already have a balance, your payments may be applied to the transfer, not your previous or new charges, ouch!!! Ok, so I rambled on long enough, will have to make a post on this, as it seems most of the members here seem a bit frugal I will tell you the best ironclad way to keep from having someone apply for new credit and it's through the CRAs, just email me. All info I offer is free of charge, i only ask you share it with others
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I am spacing mine out, all I have gotten is Equifax so far, including paying extra for the FICO score.