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I see all sorts of commercials and advertisements for those free credit reports but once you hit the fine text it requires some sort of enrollment. Are there any honest, free, and legitimate credit reports out there and if so, where can they be found?
The one you see advertised is "free credit report dot com" they are warned on Clark Howard ( national radio consumer person) also on clarkhoward.com: Save more, spend less and avoid ripoffs as a rip off company, they are actually owned by one of the threee major reporting companies.
As excon said you can just write each of them and they are required to give you a free report once a year. Also the one site annualcreditreport.com is suppose to also be a free site, actually operated by the government to provide free reports from what I have heard ( have not actually used it)
Let me tell you about freecreditreport.com. I did some business with them. They SUCK.
I PAID their $39.95 or whatever for their annual reporting. I paid them with my CREDIT CARD. That was fine with them.
Obviously, they could identify me ENOUGH to take my credit card. However, when it came time for my reports, they weren't sure if I was the guy who was requesting my reports. So, they said that they needed to MAIL some stuff to me for VERIFICATION.
COOL, I thought. They're really looking after me regarding identity theft. So, I filled it out (you know - mothers maiden name and stuff) and sent it back in.
Nothing happened. So, I called customer service. They STILL couldn't identify me enough to send me my credit reports. Ok, fine. Then I asked them for a refund since they were unable to sell me the product I bought. Of course, he said no. He said they would mail me some MORE stuff to fill out.
We argued, and he wouldn't put his supervisor on the phone.... So, there I was, dealing with a credit bureau who couldn't identify me enough to send my credit reports, but COULD identify me enough to TAKE my credit card for payment......
Yes, it blew me away. But, I didn't just fall off the turnip truck. I informed my bank that I was being ripped off BY THE CREDIT BUREAUS. They refunded my money and reported them to the police for fraud.
excon
PS> The Padre is right. Freecreditreport.com is OWNED by Experian - one of the three major credit bureaus.
I recently got a free credit report because I requested an increase to the credit limit on a credit card at a local bank. The clerk was happy to give me a copy of my credit report. Didn't cost me a cent!
Really guys? I have gone to that site for the last 4 years and gotten mine....no problems. Sorry Collegekid....wasn't aware of whatthey are saying. Like I said, I have used that website for several years and never had a problem. It gave me a copy of all three credit reports.
For a citizens pure vanilla credit report, I'm sure they're fine. However, I'm not quite that.
I'm a very private person. I know how to guard my privacy and work hard at it. I don't do business in the usual manner. I don't use credit like most people do. In fact, I don't have a credit card. The card I mentioned above is a DEBIT card.
I owe nothing. I don't get spam. I don't get junk mail or credit card offers. My phone only rings when a family member is calling. And, I LIKE it that way.
Let me tell you about freecreditreport.com. I did some business with them. They SUCK.
I agree with that. Be very careful signing up with these guys. If your not careful you will end up signing up for a years worth of identity theft protection that you only have 5 days to cancel and it auto renews every year. Do you really think that after a whole year your going to remember to cancel in this 5 day window
I have used this site a few times and it's worked every time. They don't ask for a credit card or anything like that. You put your information in, they ask you a few security questions, and you get your credit report. You would have to pay if you want to get your credit score though.
I do know that this site is backed by the Federal Trade Commission.
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