A few years ago I wrote an article about annual credit report. You can read it here.
Amazingly, the site still operates in the same manner today. It’s easy and efficient and free to get all three of your credit reports on an annual basis. If you want, you can also choose to purchase your credit scores from each of the three credit bureaus at the same time you’re getting your free report.
If you’re actively repairing your credit, consider one of the score monitoring services, so you can chart your score improvement efforts. You’re entitled to new copies of your report when your repair efforts produce positive results, so you won’t need to purchase your reports often while undergoing repair activities.
If you aren’t actively repairing/improving your score these credit monitoring services are really a waste of money. You’d save cash and get more information just ordering your credit reports and scores every quarter.
Personally, I only review mine once every year.
There are three major credit compiling and reporting agencies, usually referred to as credit bureaus, that provide scores for all of the lenders and smaller credit reporting agencies. Smaller agencies resell credit reports obtained from the three major agencies.
Because of the ease of updating information on the internet, the easiest way to get your credit reports, challenge items on those reports, and get the most up to date contact information for the credit bureaus is by finding them on the internet. Here are the websites
One other thing you may want to understand about the software and mathematics that goes into your credit score calculation is the fact that the math used by the software is based on research and comparative mathematics. This is an important and simple concept that can help you understand how to boost your credit score. In simple terms, what this means is that your credit score is in a way calculated on the same principles as your insurance premiums.
Your insurance company likely asks you questions about your health, your lifestyle choices (such as whether you are a smoker) because these bits of information can tell the insurance company how much of a risk you are and how likely you are to make large claims later on. This is based on research.
Studies have shown, for example, that smokers tend to be more prone to serious illnesses and so require more medical attention. If you are a smoker, you may face higher insurance premiums because of this.
Similarly, credit bureaus and lenders often look at general patterns. Since people with too many debts tend not to have great rates of repayment, your credit score may suffer if you have too many debts, for example. Understanding this can help you in two ways:
1) It will let you see that your credit score is not a personal reflection of how “good” or “bad” you are with money. Rather, it is a reflection of how well lenders and companies think you will repay your bills - based on information gathered from studying other people.
2) It will let you see that if you want to improve your credit score, you need to work on becoming the sort of debtor that studies have shown tends to repay their bills. You do not have to work hard to reinvent yourself financially and you do not have to start making much more money. You just need to be a reliable borrower. This realization alone should help make credit repair far less stressful!
