Free credit reports are great, but first make sure they are actually free

We have written extensively about the importance of credit health and working towards a top credit score. The three main credit bureaus keep track of every financial experience you may have, from bankruptcies to loans to late payments. If it involves you and money, they have a record of it. That record is your credit report, and the bureaus make that report available to any creditor or lender you authorize to view it. No lender is going to let you borrow money without first having a look at your report to see if you are worthy of receiving the loan.

The credit bureaus have also sold credit reports to the public in the past, but when consumers began to complain to Congress about having to pay for their own personal information, Congress passed a law requiring the bureaus to make copies of credit reports available to consumers once each year.  Those reports, one from each bureau per year, are available at the free credit report Website at annualcreditreport.com.

But some consumers are confused and will often simply search for the term “free credit report” in a search engine. By doing so in Google, you may come up with more than twenty million responses! Worse, not all of these sites that promise a “free” copy of your report will actually provide one for free.

One good example of when “free” isn’t exactly free is the site freecreditreport.com. The name certainly suggests that the information will cost you nothing. And you can obtain a copy of your financial history there. But reading the fine print points out something else - while you obtain the document at no charge, you are also agreeing to sign up for a subscription credit monitoring service at a cost of $12.95 per month! This site is actually maintained by Experian, one of the three main bureaus.

This site is just one of hundreds of sites that makes some mention of no cost and financial records but does not actually provide the service at no charge. You will have to buy something in order to receive your information.

Some other sites also promise no-cost information, but actually provide nothing at all. They appear to be legitimate sites, but are actually constructed for the purpose of obtaining your personal information so that it can be used later for the crime of identity theft. You will be asked for your Social Security number and your address and possibly a charge card number. Once you have provided that information, the thieves have everything they need to commit financial havoc in your name while leaving you stuck with the bills.

Keep in mind that if something has no charge you won’t have to provide a bank card number in order to get it. 

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