<p>I’d like to run a credit report to see where we stand. We have no loans planned, but it seems like it would be good to ensure there are no errors. Also it would be interesting to see how low the scores are for the college kids. </p>
<p>A financial column in our newpaper recommended AnnualCreditReport.com. How does this work? We have security concerns about entering our personal info.</p>
<p>Just don’t bother getting one from Experian, they don’t give you a FICO score. They use their own system which is useless. We just did it a couple of days ago, it was useful to make sure everything was accurate and their suggestions for improving our credit were good. I would get the scores directly from the credit companies.</p>
<p>And the report itself was free. But the useless credit score cost $8.</p>
<p>I have run reports using annualcreditreport.com (do NOT use freecreditreport.com, which ironically, is not really free.) You can run one from each of the three major reporting agencies for free each year. It is recommended that instead of running all three at once, you should run one of them every 4 months. I don’t have any worries about the security of it, nor have I had any problems with that in the past (knock wood!)</p>
<p>None of them will give you your FICO score for free, though…I don’t know of any way of getting that on your own without paying for it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reminder…I’m overdue to check mine. :)</p>
<p>I use annualcreditreport.com and space the reports out- one in January, one in May, one in September. </p>
<p>You can also use creditkarma.com to get a rough idea of what your FICO score is. My actual FICO with at least one agency is actually higher than what creditkarma shows – I know that because I applied to refinance my house, and as part of that process received notice of the FICO score. But I think creditkarma is good enough to give you a ballpark picture and some guidance as to what you might do to improve your score.</p>
<p>There are various types of credit scores; the most common ones used in lending are FICO scores, though FICO also has different variants for different types of loans, insurance rating, etc…</p>
<p>The credit reporting companies may try to sell Vantage scores, which are different and not otherwise widely used.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! </p>
<p>Just wondering… how do they know that is “me” running the score… not a nosy neighbor? I assume SS# is involved, and that is why DH has expressed security concerns.</p>
<p>They use a wide variety of methods, including SSN, to verify that you are who you say you are. They will ask about previous addresses, previous loans/amounts, previous employers… there are several questions you have to answer.</p>
<p>The site uses SSL certificates so information you enter is encrypted while in transit to prevent sniffing of information. Honestly, these days, most hackers are not aiming for one person’s piece of information. They are trying to hack the credit agencies whole databases. One SSN is only worth about $2 on the black market these days. To make any money, they have to have thousands and thousands. The credit agencies have all of your data whether you choose to access them through annualcreditreport.com or not. </p>
<p>You’re more likely to identify that identity theft has occurred if you do as others suggested… check one of the three every 4 months. It’s more of a security risk to NOT check them than to check them :)</p>
<p>(My career is information security)</p>
<p>I trust the encryption. And I am satisfied that that AnnualCreditReport.com is legit. Just need to discuss it with DH, who had stronger concerns about SSN. </p>
<p>My thought is to do use AnnualCreditReport.com to do all three checks and assure it all looks right. Then next year I’d get on a cycle to check one at a time. (I’m not sure if we will have any future loans, but it seems good to be ready.) Any other suggested methods?</p>
<p>The credit agencies (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) are required to give you one free credit report per year. AnnualCreditReport.com is the web site that was set up to allow you to easily get these reports.</p>
<p>It is smart to occasionally get these and make sure there is nothing unexpected on there.</p>
<p>As mentioned, they don’t provide a credit score.</p>
<p>The problem with paying for your credit score is that there are a lot of different credit score systems, and even within the FICO scores there are many variations depending on the kind of loan you want or who knows what other factors.</p>
<p>This site for example claims there are 49 different versions of FICO:</p>
<p>[Scores</a>, Scores, and More Scores: How Many FICO Credit Scores Do You Have | Credit Sesame](<a href=“http://www.creditsesame.com/blog/scores-scores-and-more-scores-how-many-fico-credit-scores-do-you-have/]Scores”>http://www.creditsesame.com/blog/scores-scores-and-more-scores-how-many-fico-credit-scores-do-you-have/)</p>
<p>One would hope they don’t vary too much, but who knows.</p>
<p>My credit union gives me a score for free every month. I have no idea which one it is. It can go up or down 10 or 20 points every month for no apparent reason.</p>
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<p>They ask you a series of questions based on information they have in the credit report, such as the name of your mortgage lender or a street address where you have previous lived. So unless the nosy neighbor already knows a lot of personal details about you or makes some lucky guesses, they are unlikely to pass the security screen. </p>
<p>In any case, to get the report the person would have to already know your name & social security number – if they already have that info, then they would already be in a position to defraud, with or without the credit report.</p>
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<p>That’s a good plan. The first time I did it when it first became available, I found an error on one of the reports, 2 errors including the same one as the first on another report and no errors on the 3rd. Don’t remember which ones but it was easy to get them corrected. Haven’t found any errors subsequently and it’s interesting to see who has made inquiries on you.</p>
<p>I have had credit reports through annualcreditreport.com. Only do it pretty rarely. Have found out our credit score when we applied for a Home Equity loan (just because it seemed like a good thing to do and there are NO costs associated with getting in and no annual fees). Was happy to find out our credit scores were both very high. Have suggested the kids get their credit reports, just to see what they are, but so far don’t think they have. Am assuming that both have excellent credit because S was given a free gold AmEx card and D got a Costco AmEx card the first and only time she applied. It is the first card she has ever held on her own, without having me or anyone else on her account.</p>