Free Online Credit Report With Credit Score
Reader Question: Where can I find a free online credit report with my actual credit score included?
The first point I want to make (for the benefit of other readers) is that these are, in fact, two different things. Many home buyers think that credit "scores" and "reports" are just two ways of referring to the same thing. This is not the case, and understanding the difference between them will prevent confusion as you request your free online credit reports and scores.
Your credit reports are basically a record of your financial history. These records are maintained by three privately held companies -- Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
Your credit score, on the other hand, is a number between 500 and 850 that's based on the information in your credit reports. A higher score is better. This number is usually created through a computational process developed by the Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO for short). That's why they are sometimes referred to as FICO scores as well.
Here's something else that surprises a lot of people. You have three of each -- three credit reports maintained by the companies mentioned earlier, and three scores based on the information in those reports. So if you really want to know about your credit picture, you have to get all three of each.
By law, you are entitled to one free credit report per year, from all three of the companies that keep them. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion have actually created a joint website where you can get your annual free credit report online -- it is appropriately named: AnnualCreditReport.com.
As for requesting your credit score online, you have to do that separately. You can do that through the FICO website. In fact, I just did some research while writing this response, and I noticed that you can get all three reports and scores online through the FICO site:
Get All 3 FICO Scores and Credit Reports!
Hope that helps. Good luck!
You can learn more about this topic from our Consumer's Guide to Credit.
The first point I want to make (for the benefit of other readers) is that these are, in fact, two different things. Many home buyers think that credit "scores" and "reports" are just two ways of referring to the same thing. This is not the case, and understanding the difference between them will prevent confusion as you request your free online credit reports and scores.
Your credit reports are basically a record of your financial history. These records are maintained by three privately held companies -- Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
Your credit score, on the other hand, is a number between 500 and 850 that's based on the information in your credit reports. A higher score is better. This number is usually created through a computational process developed by the Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO for short). That's why they are sometimes referred to as FICO scores as well.
Here's something else that surprises a lot of people. You have three of each -- three credit reports maintained by the companies mentioned earlier, and three scores based on the information in those reports. So if you really want to know about your credit picture, you have to get all three of each.
By law, you are entitled to one free credit report per year, from all three of the companies that keep them. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion have actually created a joint website where you can get your annual free credit report online -- it is appropriately named: AnnualCreditReport.com.
As for requesting your credit score online, you have to do that separately. You can do that through the FICO website. In fact, I just did some research while writing this response, and I noticed that you can get all three reports and scores online through the FICO site:
Get All 3 FICO Scores and Credit Reports!
Hope that helps. Good luck!
You can learn more about this topic from our Consumer's Guide to Credit.
Labels: Credit scores
posted by Brandon at
9:20 AM
