Be Careful-- A Warning About Websites That Offer A Free Credit Report

Websites That Offer A FreeCreditReport 

There is only one website authorized to issue the free annual credit report you're entitled to under US law and that is - annualcreditreport.com. Other websites that claim to offer free credit reports, free credit scores, or any type of free credit monitoring are not part of the US federal government's free annual credit report program. In most cases, the supposedly free credit report comes with some strings attached. Some of the sites sign you up for an advertised free service that converts to one that costs you money after an initial trial period. If you don't cancel during this period, you may be agreeing to let the company start charging you fees and that would be to your credit card.

Some of these sites may use terms like free report in their names, and others have URLs that purposely misspell the words -- annualcreditreport.com  or variations of www creditreport com in the hope that you will mistype the name of the official website. Some of these spam sites will send you to other sites that try to sell you something you didn't know you were getting into when they get a hold of your email address, when all you want is your free annual report from all three credit bureaus - or credit reporting agencies as they are called now..

US consumer reporting companies will not send you an email asking for your personal information.

You probably know by now that you will have to pay for your FICO credit score if you can't get a banker, lender or loan officer to tell when you have already applied for a loan.  Often the credit bureau will offer them combined with your credit report for a fee. The credit bureaus are Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.  This would be okay if you need another copy of your credit report before your year is up.