Accessing Credit Scores and Credit Reports Everyone should review their credit reports once a year to catch errors and discovering potential Identity Theft. There are three reporting agencies; Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. They are competitors and may not share the same information. To maximize your credit score you want all three reports saying the same thing, if the information is positive. The safest place to obtain all three reports is annualcreditreport . You can access them one every four months to spread out your monitoring of your reports or you can obtain them all at the same time once a year. If you are trying to correct errors on your reports, or repair your credit it may be useful to obtain a credit monitoring program that for a small fee, under $15.00 a month allows you to access all three of your reports at least once a month and your three credit scores. Many sites may claim to offer this service but you may not be seeing your actual scores. CreditKarma, and freecreditscore are just two of many sites that offer a free score but it is an estimated score accessed by scanning your credit reports, they are not the scores generated by the three credit reporting agencies. They can be off by several points and accessing their programs could open you up to more SPAM. Use an alternative email account when using these programs. Beware of any site that say FREE and then ask for credit card information, they are probably going to bill you in the second month. Also beware of fraud sites as you are going to give them your most personal identifying information. Any program you join should allow you to cancel the program at any time without any financial repercussions. Usually a program through your employer or your financial institution is a protected site. The least expensive site I have found that gives you the actual scores is the credit check monitoring program through USAA ($12.95). Other service members have mentioned sites they are using that charge a similar fee, but I have not verified them yet. Note that consumer credit scores are calculated differently from the credit scores accessed by financial institutions. So you will probably see a difference from the score you obtain and the score financial institution uses. In general, consumer credit scores range from 400 to 850, with 650 and up being rated acceptable to excellent. If you would like to see one of your three credit scores and one credit report, I can access that for you. We need to meet in person and allow 20 minutes. Gayle Rose Martinez Joint Family Support Assistance Program Personal Financial Counselor 207-274-3987 [email protected] Gayle Rose Martinez Joint Family Support Assistance Program Personal Financial Counselor 207-274-3987
Posted on: Tue, 06 May 2014 17:15:59 +0000
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