Are Free Credit Reports Really Free?

Most people have heard by now that last year in 2005, a law was passed that gives every single one of us the right to one free credit report a year. But if you have gone to the any of the web sites offering this free credit report, they are asking for your credit card information.

So you have to wonder, why would they be asking for your credit card if this is a free credit report? If you read further, they want you to sign up for a thirty day trial period of a credit service.

But what about the law that says you get one free credit report a year? Actually, the way some companies are marketing this, it's very confusing to people. If you are confused about it all, you'll find this information very interesting and it should clear things up.

First, lets just bottom line it. There is only one official site that helps consumers to obtain their annual free credit report. If you go to www.AnnualCreditReport.com a free credit report is available to you once a year.

This site's security measures are excellent because their web pages have encryption. For identity theft purposes that's important because you don't want anyone seeing the information on your credit report unless they are a lender.

But if anyone can get a free credit report from this site once a year, what's the catch? You know there has to be a catch and here it is. The free credit report you get from www.AnnualCreditReport.com does not have a credit score.



You may be asking what good is getting a free credit report without a credit score? Although it would have been nice if they would have included a score, there are a lot of good reasons why you may want to see your credit report even without a credit score.

With more than forty percent of all credit reports having errors, it's a good idea if you spot errors, to get them cleared up before applying for a loan. If you contact a credit bureau about an error, they have thirty days to clear it or they have to remove it by law.

Once you get your credit report, make sure everything looks okay. If someone takes over your accounts, they can charge up thousands of dollars and destroy your credit rating in a matter of hours.

Those are just a couple of good reasons why you want to get your free credit report once a year and look at it just to be sure everything looks fine. You can get your free credit report online at www.AnnualCreditReport.com, by phone or through the mail.

People get confused when it comes to getting your credit score. When Congress passed the law they did not say anything about a credit score because the law was designed to stop fraud and identity theft.

To get your credit score, you have to pay a service and it's confusing because some companies are marketing this wanting people to believe that this is part of the new free credit report law.

These companies are banking on you forgetting about the 30 day trial and charging a fee on your credit card once that trial period is over.

If you want to read the fine print it is there, but almost no one reads that. Be aware of what is going on and any time you have to give your credit card information, you should know that there is a catch.

Millions of people have had these charges show up on their credit card bill. If you don't want to be a part of any of this nonsense, and just want your annual free credit report, now you know how to get it.

Article Source: EZ Articles Directory