Would you like to know how to improve your credit score? The first step to fixing bad credit is to get a copy of your credit report.
The first thing you will probably think to do is google the term “free credit report”. While this seems like a logical thing to do, be careful! Most of the sites that will come up are not free at all. They are sites that will give you a free report but then charge you monthly for “monitoring” of your credit.
Now, these services can be great if you are undertaking a credit report repair campaign, but you need to understand what you are getting. You don’t HAVE to pay to get your credit report!
Under the Federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACTA) Act of 2003, Every American is entitled to a free credit report once a year. You can get your report from all three bureaus at once, or stagger your request throughout the year. (Staggering your requests makes sense if your credit is fairly good and you are simply looking for errors.)
The ONLY place to go to get this free report is AnnualCreditReport.com.
I got mine just this week and it is a fairly easy process that can be done online. They don’t even ask for a credit card. The only thing you have to watch out for is not exiting out of your browser as you finish one bureau and go to the next.
(Some of the bureaus will even let your dispute online from this system, though this is not always the preferred method because it doesn’t always provide you with the documentation you will need later.)
The only downside to the free annual credit report system, is that it doesn’t provide you with a credit score. If you are looking to repair your credit report, it may be difficult to track your progress unless you know what your score is.
To get your credit score, you will need to either pay for a one time report with a score or enroll in one of the bureaus credit monitoring services. Credit monitoring services will monitor your credit report and score on a monthly or quarterly basis, and alert you of any changes. Some of them also have modules that will allow you to play “what if “ games with your score and will make recommendations to improve your score.
If your credit is perfect and you don’t plan to apply for credit, you may have no need for such a service. However, if you would like to optimize your score in advance of applying for a major loan or are working on credit repair, these services may be useful.
In need of credit repair? Stay tuned for strategies you can use to repair your own credit!
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