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Best "free credit report" site?

G

GnatGoSplat

Golden Member
Does anyone know of a really good site that advertises your credit report for free? Preferably one that allows you to cancel online after the trial period. I'm going to guess most of them will make you call to cancel and speak to a CSR that pressures you into not cancelling.
 
I used Consumer Info recently. I actually forgot to call before the 30-day trial period ended, but they still refunded the full charge. I had to call in to get it cancelled, but they didn't pressure me at all. I was amazed... Maybe I just got lucky with a cool CSR, but the whole conversation couldn't have been longer than a minute or so. I'm not sure if she even asked me why I was cancelling. If only all conversations with CSRs (DELL!!!!) were this easy.
 
Thanks, I appreciate the reply.

I got too impatient and ended up signing up for Privista. Similar deal, but you can cancel online by sending email to their cancellation email address.
 
No prob. One thing I noticed is that all those "free credit report" sites use your Equifax credit report. I don't remember seeing any that gave you your credit report from the 2 other credit-reporting agencies. It'd definitely be interesting to see if there are any differences between the 3 of these reports.
 
http://www.equifax.com
http://www.transunion.com
http://www.experian.com

All those "free credit report" sites are scams. If you have applied for credit anywhere in the last 60 days, you have the right to receive a copy of your report by mail for free. If you haven't applied for any credit recently, then they may charge you $8-9 bucks. If you want it shipped fast, you may have to pay for the shipping, and sometimes you have to pay extra to see your score. The copy of the report that you will receive direct from the bureaus is more complete and contains more information than any that a 3rd party could ever send to you and dispute forms (if needed) are included.

<-- Mortgage Broker
 
Nothing is free. If they don't charge you for the report, they will put you on some "credit protection" program which costs upwards of $100/yr. Yes, you can cancel, but it isn't always easy.

I received my report through some section in Yahoo! Finance. I obtained my FICO score as well through the service...I think it cost $15.
 
If you are a resident of CO, GA, MA, MD, NJ and VT you are allowed one copy of your credit report each year for free from each of the companies.
 
PSYWVic: I've always known that you can get a free report if you've been turned down after applying for credit. But, none of the sites/brochures I've read in the past that just applying for credit was good enough. Is this limited to certain states?

So, I don't see how these sites qualify as "scams", since they offered a service to me that I would have had to otherwise pay for. I just read the "Fair Credit Reporting Act" on Transunion's web-page and they also had the disclaimer that the free-report was only applicable within 60 days of some sort of action against you.
 
satori, you are correct EXCEPT that the bureaus have no way of knowing whether you were turned down or not. So the way that they interpret an "action against you" is by noting inquiries on your report that don't lead to a corresponding new credit line. The bureaus have no way of knowing whether you got turned down for a loan or whether you cancelled a loan application while in process (if you get my hint).
Yes, the laws are different in different states. I am not familiar with all of them.

I think of "free credit report" sites as scams because there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Credit reports cost, on average, about $7 bucks and tri-merges (all 3 bureaus merged into one report) cost about $20. And these are roughly the minimum prices to businesses that order 100 and more reports per day. Consumers pay more. Obviously, these "free" sites need to make money to cover their expenses. One way they sometimes do it is by gleaning and selling the demographic info off the "free" reports they pull (better check that Privacy Policy again!). Another way is by offering "credit repair" and "credit protection" services. Neither of those are an actual service that a 3rd party can legally provide (accurate information can neither be removed from a report nor can anyone prevent accurate information from being placed). So yes, they are scams.
 
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