If you’re like me, you’re tired as hell of watching FreeCreditReport.com commercials like this one:
Yeah, the jingle is catchy and the concept is clever, but the fine print says that you have to sign up for a nearly $200/year subscription to get your ‘free’ credit report. Senator Mark Udall of Colorado has introduced an amendment on the Senate floor that would take all of FreeCredit’s business away by providing a truly free credit score to anyone who wants one. As the law stands, you can only get a free score once every 12 months, which is why FreeCreditReport.com exists in the first place. Screw them.
About damn time. Too little too late, now that we’ve set up personal histories as somebody else’s profitable commodity. As with pretty much everything else in America, the difference between the crime of ID theft and the business of credit reporting is nothing more than who bought a thin veil of “law”.
You can get one free credit report from each of the three reporting agencies. We space them out four months apart to keep an eye on things.
thanks for the correction. what a pain in the ass, though.
As I understand it, current law requires a once-a-year credit report — not the “score” which people are probably familiar with hearing tossed about (500 = bad, 700+ = excellent, etc.) One way that the three credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax, Experian) have been managing to still make money off their obligation of providing free reports is to upsell consumers into buying their “FICO Score” (FICO = Fair Isaac Co., the developer of an algorithm to predict creditworthiness).
My journeys into ensuring accurate credit reporting has taught me that “FICO Scores” are not always what is being sold by the three bureaus — sometimes it is a number generated by the credit reporting agency — and different than what they provide to lenders when someone applies for credit.
In many instances, the three FICO scores are purchased by the lender — and the lender takes the middle score to determine credit worthiness.
The whole system needs more transparency, and should be available for people to ensure accuracy. The credit reporting systems impact not only things like buying a car — it also impacts employment and the ability to rent a living space, to name but two examples.
Very very Catchy add for free credit report nice…
Thanks,
F.S.F.C
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