Although catchy (or is that really annoying) jingles may have led you to believe otherwise, the only place to get a free credit report is www.annualcreditreport.com. Once a year, you can receive all three of your credit reports for free from this service. Unfortunately, www.annualcreditreport.com does not provide free access to your credit scores. In fact, no one provides truly free access to your credit scores.
Knowing your credit score, and improving it, is essential if you want to get the best rates on everything from mortgages to credit cards. Yes, seeing your credit reports can help you fix errors, but it doesn't provide nearly as much insight into how lenders view you as your credit score does.
While most companies charge a fee to view credit scores, some companies provide no cost trials to credit monitoring services that give you access to your credit scores. Many of these services include useful tools that you can use to improve your credit score as well identity theft protection. Below you compare offers from companies that provide these services. With most, you can sign up and see your score in a matter of minutes. |
