Questions about Checking Your Credit Score

http://annualcreditreport.com for the 1 free yearly credit report everyone's entitled to (ONLY ONE EACH YEAR). From there you can pay to get a credit score. Wouldnt say its the absolute BEST credit scoring site, just mentioned it cuz I recently went there.

Depends on your credit activity on how many times to check. They say once a year but if you're preparing for a big loan or something maybe every 4-6 months.

I don't think you're penalized for checking yourself. Not sure of when others check.

 

You get it free ONCE a year. Be careful with those websites that tell you they're going to give it to you for FREE.

LINK Here is the .gov website that tells you how to get it for free.

ANOTHER HELPFUL LINK "Free Credit Report? Make Sure You're Getting The Real Thing"

 

The 2nd link didn't work, here it is again LINK

 

I would check my credit report every 6 months but you can do it once a year for free from the 3 major credit bureaus from this website: annualcreditreport.com
When checking your credit report they offer your credit score for around $5 each.

Depends on how often you want to check it. If you want to do it very often, I would join some kind of legit credit check program. They have them for about $10 a month.

Yes, you can pull your own credit report without harming your score, it's called a soft inquiry. When a third party accesses it that inquiry is known as a hard inquiry and does affect your score.

You're welcome.

 

Since I will be buying a house in the near future, I went ahead and bought all 3 credit reports from myFico.com (the FICO Credit Complete product) for around $50 (which of course included my FICO scores). I think it was worth the money to see my scores and complete info.

 

can anyone explain why there's no record of ANY activity on one of my credit reports? really. it's like i'm a phantom to them.

 

The companies that have given you credit don't report to that bureau.

 

hmm, so what's teh point of having 3 of them? the last couple of CC i've applied for, have come back stating DENIED b/c i don't have a history. so i guess they just happned to use the one that none of my priors accounts reported to?

and does teh FICO take into account all 3 bureaus?

 

Possibly. If you have credit through a company or bank I would call them to see which ones they report to.

Each of the three major bureaus calculate their own FICO score based on your credit history as I understand it.

 

annualcreditreport.com should be fine then.

It's the official website that the government has setup and the three major credit bureaus support. It is truly the only free one out there.

As long as it is you and not a third party you will be fine.

1-2 times a year is good enough for me of course there are some that keep up with it much more often than that. It really depends on how comfortable you are with it. I would do it at least two times a year and before any major purchases (house, car, etc.).

You're welcome. No, getting your credit score yourself does not harm your score or report. I hope that helps.