Best/least shady credit report?

[JamesV]

Credit Karma, this that and the other, it seems like every 6 months a new site pops up with 'free' credit reports.

Have any of you used any of these sites?

I don't remember how exactly, but 20 years ago I got free reports from three agencies. If I remember correctly, it was a 'once a year' thing that was free, but I don't remember how I went about doing it.

When my great aunt passed away, who I had cared for, for the past 15 years, it was a shocker to hear from the State Farm guy that my credit score was better than hers and insurance would be cheaper. He said my score was 812, which is pretty darn good, but I'd like to check for myself, and not sure if these sites are some kind of scam or require an account.

Thx for any info.

 

[Elixer]

The free ones are, and always have been here: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action These are just reports though, so you can see status of your credit records.

However, they don't show you the credit scores, that costs $$$, unless you have a CC company that does it for "free".

 

[EliteRetard]

Generally though, once you know your score it wont change as long as your reports remain unchanged. Knowing your score really isn't that important anyway, since you cant do anything about it.

 

[Svnla]

Go to annualcreditreport to request reports from the big 3 (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). You can get all 3 reports at the same time or 1 per quarter because you are entitled to have 1 from each per year but no credit score.

812 from what? FICO is the gold standard, if you have over 750 FICO, you are golden.

Also, if you have credit cards from Citibank, American Express, and Capital One, you should be able to get all free scores from the big 3 for free.

 

[JamesV]

I have a Capital One card; didn't think of seeing if they gave scores. I'll look into it, thanks.

 

[freeskier93]

Go to annualcreditreport to request reports from the big 3 (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). You can get all 3 reports at the same time or 1 per quarter because you are entitled to have 1 from each per year but no credit score.

812 from what? FICO is the gold standard, if you have over 750 FICO, you are golden.

Also, if you have credit cards from Citibank, American Express, and Capital One, you should be able to get all free scores from the big 3 for free.

Add Discover to the list.

 

[esquared]

Add Discover to the list.

Add First National of Omaha and Chase Slate card to the list for FICO scores.

 

[skull]

I have a Capital One card; didn't think of seeing if they gave scores. I'll look into it, thanks.

Look for credit tracker under benefits when you log in. I check it every month.

 

[purbeast0]

amex recently started displaying your credit score for free in your online account, i've checked mine out a couple times since then.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Chase Slate also gives you your FICO score once per month.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

CC companies offering you a free FICO score every month is essentially giving them permission to pull your credit report every month instead of just when you applied for the card.

 

[dullard]

CC companies offering you a free FICO score every month is essentially giving them permission to pull your credit report every month instead of just when you applied for the card.

They do so whether you want them to or not, and it has no impact on your credit score. Thus, it is different from you applying for a card where it could impact your credit score (if you apply for too many credit accounts over a specific period of time).

 

[dullard]

Generally though, once you know your score it wont change as long as your reports remain unchanged. Knowing your score really isn't that important anyway, since you cant do anything about it.

Exactly. Given your credit report, you can almost always estimate your credit score to a sufficient level of detail that the difference doesn't matter. And it isn't like you can do anything even if you know your score.

The exact math isn't available, but the number of points to each category is available. Then just weight those points based off of what you think the credit report is saying.

For example, the FICO score gives 55 points (10% of the 550 range) towards new credit. If you apply for a lot of new credit in a short period of time, you get zero here. If you haven't applied for any new credit in a long time, you get 55 here. If you've applied for some new credit but not much, give yourself say 50 points. Repeat with the other categories and add 300 points. Bingo, you have a very accurate estimate of your FICO score.

In the end, you'll be within ~20 points of the real score, and 20 points is meaningless.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

The free ones are, and always have been here: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action These are just reports though, so you can see status of your credit records.

However, they don't show you the credit scores, that costs $$$, unless you have a CC company that does it for "free".

CreditKarma.com

Just ignore the ads for credit card offers and it's all free. Very useful for keeping on top of things.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

CC companies offering you a free FICO score every month is essentially giving them permission to pull your credit report every month instead of just when you applied for the card.

Yes, it is what is commonly referred to as a "Soft pull" it has zero affect on your actual credit score. Nor do I really care. The only pulls that affect your credit rating are "hard pulls".

Just part of playing the game. I don't mind soft pulls to give me updates on my credit score, including recording it so I can see an overall trend of where the score is heading.

 

[ctbaars]

Is FICO 850 even possible?

 

[zinfamous]

I have a Capital One card; didn't think of seeing if they gave scores. I'll look into it, thanks.

yeah, check that out. I get a free monthly report through my Chase Slate card (or Freedom; I forget which one).

I checked it for the first time ~1 week ago. I've never been willing to trust all of the free sites, so I just kept myself blissfully ignorant for all these years.

One funny thing that I observed about the factors used for scoring:

"You do not have any outstanding money loans, so it is difficult to gauge your ability to pay this type of debt. We advise you to go into debt."

I mean, it didn't use those words, but that is basically what it says. I knew this, of course, but it is weird to see them suggest this exact thing. After paying off my meager student loans years ago, car loan about 2 years ago, I have nothing to pay off.

It is weird how they want you to go into debt to obtain better credit, but you near-instantly become untrustworthy if you get behind for a month or two. It's a scummy, scummy business.

"Be in debt to us so that we like you! Pay back your debt you criminal scum!"

 

[dullard]

"You do not have any outstanding money loans, so it is difficult to gauge your ability to pay this type of debt. We advise you to go into debt."

The typical FICO score (and similar scores) have one use: to know how likely you are to pay off future loans based on recent past loans. If you have no recent past loans, how do you expect them to be able to give you stellar credit scores? They have nothing to go off of. They don't know if you changed situations (such as being laid off, losing a spouse's income, having major unexpected medical bills, etc), changed attitudes towards debt (you just don't give a damn anymore), changed ability to pay debt in the future (you just became a quadriplegic and can't earn much money anymore), etc.

Without that information, would you lend me money? Probably not, at least not without being more wary then you would otherwise.

That said, the component you are speaking of is very small. The credit mix is only 10% of the total FICO score and having recent debt is only a part of that 10%. They'll still give you an A if you paid things off properly in the past, they just don't give you an A+ anymore when they don't have enough information.

 

[cronos]

yeah, check that out. I get a free monthly report through my Chase Slate card (or Freedom; I forget which one).

I checked it for the first time ~1 week ago. I've never been willing to trust all of the free sites, so I just kept myself blissfully ignorant for all these years.

One funny thing that I observed about the factors used for scoring:

"You do not have any outstanding money loans, so it is difficult to gauge your ability to pay this type of debt. We advise you to go into debt."

I mean, it didn't use those words, but that is basically what it says. I knew this, of course, but it is weird to see them suggest this exact thing. After paying off my meager student loans years ago, car loan about 2 years ago, I have nothing to pay off.

It is weird how they want you to go into debt to obtain better credit, but you near-instantly become untrustworthy if you get behind for a month or two. It's a scummy, scummy business.

"Be in debt to us so that we like you! Pay back your debt you criminal scum!"

Yeah it's a little strange like that. I was pushing 800 at one point last year at 797 (as shown in Discover and either Chase or Citi) and my car payment is about three months away (about $1100). I thought I'd pay it off early because I could, to get it over with, and also I wanted to see if paying this off would have me break 800. Well big mistake, it was the opposite as it actually dropped me to 770-something because now that my car is paid off there's no record of any loan besides my regular revolving credit card bills that I paid off every month

 

[dullard]

there's no record of any loan besides my regular revolving credit card bills that I paid off every month

Your car loan would be on your credit report / in your credit score until 7 years after you pay it off.

 

[stlc8tr]

Is FICO 850 even possible?

Yes but you don't get anything extra for having a perfect score.

http://www.bankrate.com/financing/mortgages/his-perfect-fico-score-obsession/

 

[kt]

Yeah it's a little strange like that. I was pushing 800 at one point last year at 797 (as shown in Discover and either Chase or Citi) and my car payment is about three months away (about $1100). I thought I'd pay it off early because I could, to get it over with, and also I wanted to see if paying this off would have me break 800. Well big mistake, it was the opposite as it actually dropped me to 770-something because now that my car is paid off there's no record of any loan besides my regular revolving credit card bills that I paid off every month

Your credit dip must have been caused by something else. When I had my car loan paid off, my credit score went up. Your revolving credit card bills can cause your score to take a dip if you go over 50% utilization of your credit limit at the moment your credit is pulled.

 

[Kelvrick]

CreditKarma and CreditSesame are legit. Sign up for those two and ignore any of their pay services.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Yes but you don't get anything extra for having a perfect score.

http://www.bankrate.com/financing/mortgages/his-perfect-fico-score-obsession/

Indeed it's possible, except you will be branded a dumbass because you clearly don't do any manufactured spending.

 

[feralkid]

Exactly. Given your credit report, you can almost always estimate your credit score to a sufficient level of detail that the difference doesn't matter. And it isn't like you can do anything even if you know your score.

The exact math isn't available, but the number of points to each category is available. Then just weight those points based off of what you think the credit report is saying.

For example, the FICO score gives 55 points (10% of the 550 range) towards new credit. If you apply for a lot of new credit in a short period of time, you get zero here. If you haven't applied for any new credit in a long time, you get 55 here. If you've applied for some new credit but not much, give yourself say 50 points. Repeat with the other categories and add 300 points. Bingo, you have a very accurate estimate of your FICO score. In the end, you'll be within ~20 points of the real score, and 20 points is meaningless.

Just add up all the scores, adding 15 points for every moon phase past your menstrual cycle, then throw in 5 points each for Faith, Hope and Charity.



Also:

My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead.



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