The Value of Your Credit Report- a Guide for Teens (cont.)
Contributed by Lisa Marie
The way the "Free credit report" sites work is just this: You log onto their site. They will ask you for a credit card number so that you can subscribe to their credit service (credit monitoring, credit fraud, etc.). The will inform you that their service has a free trial period, usually about thirty days or so, and that you can cancel your subscription any time after the free trial has ended. This is fine, as long as can remember to cancel it when the trial has ended. Otherwise, you will be paying a monthly charge via your credit card until you do cancel.
Also, you can go to the websites of the three major credit bureaus- Experian, Equifax and Trans Union and follow their directions.
The big thing to remember is that your credit reports will basically be directing your life. So many people of whom you come into contact with will need to see it including potential employers, insurance companies, landlords, not to mention banks and credit card companies, so it's important to make sure that the information which they have is correct.
