Friday, November 28, 2008

FREE CREDIT REPORT W/OUT USING A CREDIT CARD! EUREKA

Guess What! It is me again blogging. How long has it been? I don't think I can even count the days! For those that keep up with my blog, let me just say, MY LIFE HAS CHANGED so much in the last 6 months, and my future is now heading in many different ways. Long story, and will try to get around to blogging about it as soon as possible.

For those that are new to my blog, this is important information to read, as it has to do with credit and getting your credit online that is really free. Funny how I found this out reading where I took on a free 15 day membership with one that charges you after 15 days. I read their TOS and within their TOS, discovered I could get all three reports free. (By the way, I was just about to pay $24.00 with this particular credit report place when I found out, by agreeing to their TERMS of SERVICE. And low and behold, I assume by law, they gave a link where I can get this all free. LOL It does pay to read any and all of TOS within websites, as you can find out all kinds of good stuff without being ripped off, so to speak.)

I am sure that most all have seen the commercial where the young guy is always singing about his credit and how his life became screwed up by not checking his credit first. Singing songs about not being able to buy a car or marrying a girl before he checked what her credit was like, to give a few examples. He is SO CUTE, and I really liked the commercials.

As it has turned out, recently, I needed a credit report. So, off I trot my fingers to FreeCreditReport.com. Turns out, I was a ghost while trying to get my credit report, as I have not placed anything on my credit since 1996. 1996 was 12 years ago, and when they tried to identify me, I could not remember stuff. This was a headache, and ended up having to fax them tons of stuff to prove I was really me. I got a little irritated and ventured over to other free credit places (well, free for 15 days.) I was a ghost there also.

At these free credit reports for a certain amount of days, before you can get your credit report (and it usually only gives you only one out of three) you always have to give your credit card number to continue. I always make a date of when I do this, as I really do have intentions of canceling whatever I am doing, especially if I am just looking for something simple and not really interested in all their "Premium Memberships" that cost each month that I know I will never use.

OK, I see that I am running off at the mouth again I see, so I will get to the meat of this blog.

Here is a link where you can get your credit report for free once a year. You can access this link once a year for most states, and you are given 30 days to view or do whatever you need to do on the site. They DO NOT ask for a credit card to do so. (But be very careful, as there are links within this site where you might think they are part of viewing your credit and you would have to pay.) This site also allows you to do what the other paid sites let you do, such as disputing your credit, or changing things that are not correct on your credit file.

And the winner is************* Annual Credit Report Make sure you check out their toolbar at the top. Especially the FAQS. It is really informative and important.

I could just KICK myself in the BUTT for not finding them first. If you google Free Credit Report, they do come up pretty fast, but others come up before them, and they all say they are free until you get to the fine print of what all their memberships offer within your so many days time frame. Once you get to Annual Credit Report one is almost of the opinion that it is just another one like it or attached to it, as like I said before, some of the advertisements on the site can be misleading and take you to a paid membership site on credit reports.

In ending, I HIGHLY encourage anyone to check their credit, especially if it is really free. Main reason I say this as I have very little credit, but even in all three of my reports, I found out that several things were wrong within my credit report and therefore, disputed them. I also found out that checking my own credit did not count in ratio of having several places (credit cards, car loans, housing, medical, etc.) of messing up my credit score. (If your credit is checked a lot by places you are trying to get credit, then it can lower your credit score.) If something is wrong with your credit, then FIX it. Especially now with the economy in such a slump. On my credit report they had the residence I lived in back in 1999 as my last place of residence. OMG! LOL.
What made it really funny was they had all my other addresses listed as well, even the right dates, but still listed my 1999 address as my current address. (Well, I faxed them all the proof and information they needed. I guess they will now have a lot of new paperwork to do concerning me.)

Hope many read this blog and I hope this helps. See, many of the good things in life are free. Just gotta find them. Which is why I choose the word EUREKA as I am so happy I found this information.

Katie