Okay, let me just give you a little advice regarding what I have learned about getting and working through your credit report. First of all, for GOD'S SAKE DON'T BUY THE THREE-IN-ONE CREDIT REPORT! This is a complete scam to get your money. Here's the problem; when you purchase the 3-in-1 you are actually (always) purchasing it through one of the three big credit bureaus. Now, that doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is. Let's say that you purchase your 3-in-1 from Place A. So, you get your neatly organized report but you discover a problem with an account listed with Place 2. So, you try to go and dispute this error, but Place 2 tells you that you need a current credit report from them, one that has a code number on the top. Your 3-in-1 didn't give you that! So, you can't dispute unless you go BUY another credit report, this time from the agency that has the error.
In other words, I spent $34.95 on a 3-in-1, but there were problems with all three agencies, so then I had to go spend $10 at both other credit bureaus for a total of $54.95. If I had just gone to each of the three bureaus and purchased my $10 report, it would have only cost $30. I did contact the company from whom I purchased the 3-in-1 and they claim that they will refund my credit report, but BE YE NOT SO STUPID! Just go to each website (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian) and buy your single credit report. By the way, it can be almost impossible to get the $10 single credit report that you are entitled to because the agencies want you to buy the fancier packages. Keep searching the site, you will find this option, you just need to take the time to look. Of course if you only want to look once a year you get a freebie report from each company so by all means take advantage of that.
Also, once you have your report on screen, just print the damn thing out because logging back in to see it is often nearly impossible. It doesn't update for the 4 weeks that you are allowed to see it anyway, so just print it out and sort through it that way.
Also, be aware that disputing an item is worth it. Its a giant pain in the ass but if you dispute an item that fact stays on your report (at least for a while). Even if you don't receive a satisfactory answer, at least people who request your credit will at least see what you claim is wrong about the disputed item.
All in all, this is a huge project if you have ever had any money problems, but it is worth it in the end. I feel more secure knowing that we don't have any gigantic, scary debts that we didn't know about. On the other hand, though, bear in mind that you won't be able to fix a lot of stuff. I have one account that is from almost five years ago, it has no name and the account number is just my last name. I contacted the credit agency and asked what that was about and they have no idea. Since there is no account name I can't contact the original biller to ask what it is, so it stays. There is, according to the credit bureau, nothing I can do about it except wait for it to purge from the report.
This is all, by the way, only my opinion. These are the experiences that I have had over the past few months trying to deal with this situation. I cannot swear that all the information I have given is correct or accurate, only that it is what has happened to me. If you have any additional information or corrections or help to offer from your own experiences, I would love to hear it. Thanks!
Oh, and by the way, one of Paul's credit reports, we were amused to learn, even had his birthdate wrong. KIND OF IMPORTANT! So, if you think you don't need to get your report because you have a good credit history; think again.
6 comments:
My only suggestions re: getting the free one, is don't get all THREE at the same time. If you want to seriously monitor your report, by all means go to the site. I think it's freecreditreport.com or something like that. But what you need to do, is say in January get and print your report from Experian, then four months later, pull one from the free site from Transunion, and then four months later, pull again from the free site from Equifax. That's three free reports a year, one from each of the sites, and you get a clear picture of what changes, if anything, during that time. That obviously doesn't get you a credit SCORE, but you don't always need to pull a score. The free reports do not affect your score, but checking your score can. You can dispute, to my knowledge, anything found on the free reports, and it will show you the same things that a report from the actual bureau will.
One of W's reports was all whacked with wrong addresses and stuff. I'm not sure we ever corrected it, because there aren't any bad accounts or anything.
Good for you, for putting so much work into this, because it will be a huge benefit in the long run. So many people just whine about their credit, and do nothing about it, or don't care either way. I, for one, worked damn hard to get my credit so damn good. I will do whatever I can to keep it that way. Hell, I'm still broke, but if I needed a loan, because of my high score (I can pull one free from work) I can get loans if necessary.
Anyway, you will be in the same place soon enough. Keep up the work, and you'll see.
A couple of things in response to Beachgal. First of all, freecreditreport.com only gets you a free credit report if you sign up for their monitoring service. Annualcreditreport.com is the one that gives you a free one without strings.
I agree with the 'get a different one every four months' thing IF you have a clear and current knowledge of your status. That way you can just take a quick peek and make sure that everything is still okay. However,if you are, like us, trying to get a handle on exactly what is going on with your credit, get them all at once so you can get the big picture. Mine were pretty similar to each other, I've had few loans and only 2 credit cards. However Paul's credit reports were VASTLY different from one another and if I had only gotten one at a time I may have made some mistakes in knowing what to pay.
Also, I don't believe that checking your credit score can affect your credit. See:
http://www.bcsalliance.com/creditscore_checking.html
I'm confused, I'm almost POSITIVE that the government passed a law a little while back that EVERYONE is entitled to ONE FREE credit report per year, and after that you have to buy them. I can see the stupid credit agencies being jerks about making you find the right link for it, but otherwise, it should be gratuis! Hmmm... but this has scared me into wanting to get mine anyway, i just figured, since it was free, wait a few months so I didn't have to wait another 12 months for a free one.
Okay, I just got done with mine. I went to annualcreditreport.com and although you have to enter your information three times, *yawn* it does direct you to the three different credit agencies and allows you to get your free report from them.
TransUnion and Experian gave me mine with no problem, and I have huge printouts (doesn't look like there are any problems with the info on the report, hooray!), but Equifax were buttknobs and because I couldn't remember the lender name to an ancient student loan (which has been sold to a different bank anyway!), they wouldn't let me view mine.
Good experience though!
I'm glad that you had a good experience. And yes, you do get a free report from each agency every year, sorry if I said something that led you to believe that that was not true.
I think it depends on HOW you check you score. If you are applying for a mortgage or credit card and they pull your credit, that shows on your report and multiple views can lower your score. Through work here, I can have it checked, because we have a mortgage department, and there is no cost to me and it won't affect the number....aww, who knows, I'm so freakin' exhausted everything is all jumbled.
And yeah, I meant annualcreditreport.com. Again, exhausted.
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