Can You Really Get a Free Credit Report on Line? Five Minutes to Fact or Fiction (cont.)
Contributed by Lisa Marie
So do you get your credit report for free -
Just keep reading. Somewhere in the midst of all of the conditions and terms to access your credit report, it states that in order to get your credit report for free, you must agree to sign up for a "free trial membership" to their credit service of the month. These services can include: credit monitoring, credit fraud and identity theft, just to name a few.
When you keep reading into the terms and conditions, you will notice that it will say something to the effect of this: When the trial period is over (usually about thirty days), your credit card will be billed on a monthly basis for the upkeep of their service. This can range from $8.00 to $15 00 a month. So again, if you are a person who can remember to cancel the service after the thirty day trial, this would be a good option for you.
Another way to get your credit report for free -
is by applying for credit that you be rejected for. Whenever a creditor denies you credit, they must inform you, in writing, the reasons for your credit being rejected. At the bottom of this letter, it will read some thing like "Based on information received by the following credit bureaus:". Then it will list the credit bureau which they get their information from - usually one of three - Experian, Trans Union or Equifax.
So you can get your credit report for free. Another way, which is the easiest and best around, is if you live in a state like Massachusetts, which has a law mandating free annual credit reports. This is something that I wish would become national, but I'm sure our freinds on ecommerce would have a few things to say about it.
