Obtaining your credit score is far less complicated than many people make it out to be. It is actually one of the easiest things that you can do, especially with the invention of the worldwide sensation we call the internet. Now, you can not only access your credit report, but you can do it any time of the day. You can also get other things besides your credit report, such as regular monitoring, which will alert you when anything changes on your current report. You can get credit advice and simulators that will help you to decide the best action to take in improving your credit score. The common credit report of the past, while it still exists is now becoming old hat as better technology is allowing companies to provide substantially better services to consumers.
There are several ways in which to obtain your credit report. The original method was to contact the credit reporting agencies themselves:
Experian : www.experian.com
Equifax : www.equifax.com
Trans Union : www.transunion.com
However, technology has changed so much that even going directly through your credit card company isn’t the best means anymore, unless you go through experian as they have an excellent credit service provided at a relatively low cost. There are now multitudes of high quality companies that you can trust to get your credit report. While you must pay a fee for most, some will give you your first credit report for free. You can also obtain a free report from the individual credit agencies once a year at no cost. This is a law, so they have to follow it.
Some of the other good services that you should check out are :
My Fico : www.myfico.com – This is one of the best online that I have found. They offer a variety of different services that will help you to make the most of your credit score and aid you in the improvement through simulations that you can use to see how each variable being changed will impact your overall score. Really cool features.
Free Credit Report : www.freecreditreport.com – This is one of the most popular of the credit services. I personally don’t find this site all that appealing other than the fact that they give you your very first credit report for free. After that, I feel that they really don’t offer that many impressive services considering they charge the same as Experian and My Fico. Personally I use Experian for my services, but I like My Fico a lot as well. Free Credit Report just doesn’t offer as many features and functionality.
There are so many different companies that you can choose from, but if you’ve never heard of a company before, make sure that you do your research to ensure they are legitimate and aren’t just taking your personal identifying information. If you don’t check this out first, you could be setting yourself up for identity theft, which is definitely on the rise. So make sure that you are taking care of yourself and your finances and you should be more than fine.