Freecreditreport.com and Other Bad Deals
Okay, I mentioned freecreditreport.com because everybody has heard of them, funny, goofy commercials, yatta yatta yatta. Truth is, it is not only NOT free, but the most expensive credit watch service on the market today (somebody has to pay for those ads). So don’t do it. There are, however, some other great services out there and we have seen and used a lot of them.
Why should you have a credit watch service? I personally am a big fan of having the service. First, of course, because I am in the business of getting people into a better position with their credit, but also because it has personally saved my rear a few times. I once was alerted that I purchased a VW, which was news to me because at the time I only owned a broken down Honda Accord that was collecting weeds in my driveway. I sent out a letter and it was taken care of. Another instance I was notified I purchased a new cell phone (an expensive one, too) over the holidays. Funny thing was the purchase was made from a state I have never even visited before (oh, yeah, and I also own a freebie phone from T-Mobile)! This charge was made on the internet and I was immediately notified. A few phone calls and a letter and it was taken care of. Moral of the story is that these things could have been major hindrances down the road and I was able to avoid them simply because I had this service.
Does pulling my credit through a credit watch service hurt my scores? Pulling your credit through a credit watch service is a “soft inquiry” and therefore does not affect your scores. Only a “hard inquiry” will affect your scores. A hard inquiry is a credit pull for the purpose of someone extending you credit (such as a bank, mortgage company, car dealer, etc). Since you want to avoid hard inquiries, the credit watch is a great way to stay on top of your credit without it hurting you.
Can I see my credit scores? Yes. You want to be sure you choose a service that gives you all three bureaus, all three scores. Many services will offer one bureau for free or for a trial, but then charge exorbitant fees to add the other two bureaus. If you are not looking at all three bureaus you really don’t know what is on your credit, because all three bureaus report different information (which is why your three scores are different).
What credit watch service do you recommend? There are many good ones out there, but of all I have seen, used, tested, etc., I like Trans Union’s truecredit.com the best. They charge $14.95 per month and give all three bureaus, all three scores. They allow you to pull a new Trans Union report every day if you like, and the other two bureaus every 30 days. The layout is nice and easy to read and they give a nice explanation and breakdown of what is on your report. This is the service we recommend to our customers because of the ease of use and cheap price.
Once you have the credit watch service, would you like someone to review your credit for you? We’d be glad to! We will show you what is keeping your scores down and what you can do personally to get your scores moving up. Give us a call for a free consultation 812-406-0600