Free Credit Report-How do I get one? 

Your Credit Minute Show Notes:

  • 00:00                                   What’s up, YouTubers. Today, we’re gonna talk about a subject that we, uh, we talk about a lot here at Key Credit Repair, and it’s probably one of the most searched, uh, credit queries on Google, and it’s, uh, and excuse my bad handwriting, uh, free credit report. Okay. Where do I get my free credit report? How do I get one? What website do I go to, or you think you’re getting a free credit report, but actually you’re not, so let’s talk about free credit reports, guys.
  • 00:28                                   So, I’m gonna give you guys where you can get your free credit report, how to get it, what the catches are, what the gimmicks are, because, trust me, there are a lot of them. Okay.
  • 00:41                                   So, what’s the deal with these credit reports? Well, number one, the United States government has allowed you, the consumer, access to your credit reports through the three credit agencies, once per year, for free, unless you’ve recently been declined, which you can actually request them again. Okay?
  • 00:56                                   Now, where do you access this? Well, technically speaking, there’s only one website. There’s only one, guys, where you can access all three credit agencies completely free of charge, but I’m gonna give you the catch. Okay? So, that website is going to be annualcreditreport.com. Okay. Annualcreditreport.com. Okay.
  • 01:24                                   Now, when you get to this website, it’s gonna give you the ability to pull your Equifax, okay, your TransUnion, and your Experian credit data. Okay. You’re gonna get everything. Every nook and cranny of that data, you can get once per year for free. You can download it as a PDF. You’ll have access to it forever and ever. Okay. It’s a great thing, and it’s extremely detailed.
  • 01:46                                   Once again, what’s the catch, though? The catch is no one said in any of these laws that your credit score is free. There’s no credit score. Okay. No score. Okay. Now, there is the option, through each of the bureaus when you’re, when you’re accessing that free data, to upgrade and pay somewhere between eight and ten bucks per credit score, okay, but if you’re just looking for the data, you wanna see what’s on there, it’s very much recommended. Okay.
  • 02:14                                   Now, if you wanna go one step further, you wanna get some of your data or as much data as you can, plus credit scores, okay, or some sort of credit score, and you have another site that’s super popular these days, and one we tend to recommend a lot because we like how usable it is, and you have Credit Karma. Okay. Credit Karma’s gonna allow you to access your TransUnion credit data 100% free of charge, okay, your Equifax credit data, and you’re not getting your Experian data. That’s one of the catches. Okay. Also, you are getting credit scores in the form of something called a Vantage Score. Okay. So a Vantage score is a credit score that’s used for educational purposes only. It was created by the three credit agencies. It’s owned by the three credit agencies. Banks and lenders do not use it. 90% of credit decisions are made using what? FICO scores. So Credit Karma’s a good report. We like the monitoring. We like it, but realize you’re not getting everything. Okay. You pay for what you get, and you’re not paying anything here, so you don’t get everything. Okay.
  • 03:28                                   The other website that we like is freecreditreport.com, but another catch. Here’s the other catch, guys. It’s freecreditreport.com or freecreditscore.com. You are only getting free Experian data. Okay. Equifax, you get nothing. TransUnion, zero, zip, zilch. Okay. And, usually, you’re gonna get some sort of a score. Um, I’ve seen them offer FICO or usually FICO 8 or 9, which banks and lenders, of course, they’re not using it yet. Most mortgage companies using FICO 4 or FICO 5, um, or they’re using their plus score. Okay.
  • 04:27                                   So, if you want the free data, just the data, annualcreditreport.com. Okay. You can get an upgrade and you can pay for it to access scores, but there are no scores. Credit Karma’s gonna give you TransUnion, Equifax, and a Vantage score, which is really good for educational purposes only. Um, you get a free app, as well, and the credit monitoring alerts are really good. Okay. Um, another thing negative with Credit Karma, something I don’t like is the fact that I’m constantly being marketed. Okay. Keep in mind they’re not charging you anything. They need to make money. So, every time you log in, guess what? There’s a banner for Amex, there’s a banner for Visa, there’s a banner for this, that, and the other, and I don’t like the fact that my data is out there in that way, although it’s out there anyway somewhere, right? Um, and then we have freecreditreport.com, which is giving you Experian data, plus one credit score. Okay.
  • 05:15                                   Now, that’s where you’re getting some free credit reporting. Now, what is the common theme here? If you want it all, you must pay. Okay.
  • 05:29                                   One thing I tell every single one of my clients, “Stop being cheap. Pay for credit monitoring. You will pay for all types of warranties, all types of things. You will pay all types of counselors, advisors, and coaches, but you will not shell out 20 or 30 bucks per month, $360 per year, to monitor all three of your credit agencies, to check all three of your credit agencies, and to look at and monitor all three of your credit scores.” That’s financial insanity. Okay.
  • 05:58                                   If you wanna look at exactly what the banks are, uh, and lenders are looking at at all times and you’re willing to shell out the cash, and credit is important to you, then my suggestion, and you guys will see this a lot, this is not for cheap people, is myfico.com. Get on there. I think their three-in-one membership right now is somewhere in the ballpark of 30 bucks. All three credit agencies, all three FICO scores in every variation of the FICO score. Remember, guys? FICO 4, FICO 5, banks and lenders, mortgage companies, that’s what they’re using. FICO 8, FICO 9, they’re not using it. We could care less if we’re getting that score for free. Um, you also have auto lending scores, credit card scores, insurance scores. You got everything on there.
  • 06:46                                   So, guys, that is your explanation about free credit reports. All right? This is Nik Tsoukales with Key Credit Repair, and this was your credit news for the day.