Posted on: 22nd Dec, 2009 11:15 am
yes, i know i always go on and on about these websites that claim "free" for things which are not really free, but advertisements for their additional services that entrap thousands, and, more likely, millions of people.
there are 3 new companies who have begun websites that allow you to view a credit profile at no cost whatsoever.
i just went on Quizzle.com and viewed my own profile, and it was easy. there's no score in the traditional sense, but they do give you an idea of what your score might be if you were to view your full report. they also grade your credit, your budget, your home value, your mortgage, your rainy day fund (based on your own input for some of these).
quizzle is in partnership with experian, one of the major credit reporting agencies and you can obtain a copy of your experian report when you sign up (i didn't). as a subscriber to quizzle, you can obtain a free updated credit report every 6 months along with a quizzle score.
on this site you do not need to enter your social security number. the information you submit when you register is used to determine your identity and locate your credit report. if you have a common name or some other characteristic that coincides with someone else and a duplicate report match is found, they may ask you for your social security number to authenticate the right report.
based on my knowledge of the marketplace in my town - which i have to believe is pretty decent - along with assessed value by my municipality, i have to think that the value assigned to my home by quizzle is low by $20K or so; but i'm not selling anytime soon anyway, so it's not that important to me.
there are two other new services - both of which i intend to visit and report on. more later.
there are 3 new companies who have begun websites that allow you to view a credit profile at no cost whatsoever.
i just went on Quizzle.com and viewed my own profile, and it was easy. there's no score in the traditional sense, but they do give you an idea of what your score might be if you were to view your full report. they also grade your credit, your budget, your home value, your mortgage, your rainy day fund (based on your own input for some of these).
quizzle is in partnership with experian, one of the major credit reporting agencies and you can obtain a copy of your experian report when you sign up (i didn't). as a subscriber to quizzle, you can obtain a free updated credit report every 6 months along with a quizzle score.
on this site you do not need to enter your social security number. the information you submit when you register is used to determine your identity and locate your credit report. if you have a common name or some other characteristic that coincides with someone else and a duplicate report match is found, they may ask you for your social security number to authenticate the right report.
based on my knowledge of the marketplace in my town - which i have to believe is pretty decent - along with assessed value by my municipality, i have to think that the value assigned to my home by quizzle is low by $20K or so; but i'm not selling anytime soon anyway, so it's not that important to me.
there are two other new services - both of which i intend to visit and report on. more later.
okay...here's the next report. i just went on Credit.com and signed up for a similar treatment (sounds like physical therapy).
amazingly, i have a completely different credit profile on credit.com than i do with quizzle. that seems quite peculiar to me, but i suspect that this site may be a tad behind the times. as with quizzle, credit.com is also tied in with one of the major credit agencies - this one is aligned with trans union.
i do recognize that the information i received back is pretty accurate, though i think a couple of things may not have been reported yet (yes, i've had my own issues with making payments in the recent past). it's telling my my credit is "excellent." now a few months ago, i would have agreed, but now i think i'd say it's "good" instead.
here they don't give you a score, but they tell you what their rating correlates to in terms of a score. for example, excellent is considered in the range from 750-850; good is 740-799; fair is 670-739; poor is 611-669; and bad is 300-609. i don't know what happened to 610 - it doesn't appear on their charts.
i truly like how they break down the report. they give you an analysis of all 5 of the elements of your score: payment history; debt usage; credit age; account mix; inquiries. in each case, there's a description of how to better handle your accounts, etc. to maximize your score overall.
they allow you to update every 30 days.
okay...on to the next one; i will return with more information shortly.
amazingly, i have a completely different credit profile on credit.com than i do with quizzle. that seems quite peculiar to me, but i suspect that this site may be a tad behind the times. as with quizzle, credit.com is also tied in with one of the major credit agencies - this one is aligned with trans union.
i do recognize that the information i received back is pretty accurate, though i think a couple of things may not have been reported yet (yes, i've had my own issues with making payments in the recent past). it's telling my my credit is "excellent." now a few months ago, i would have agreed, but now i think i'd say it's "good" instead.
here they don't give you a score, but they tell you what their rating correlates to in terms of a score. for example, excellent is considered in the range from 750-850; good is 740-799; fair is 670-739; poor is 611-669; and bad is 300-609. i don't know what happened to 610 - it doesn't appear on their charts.
i truly like how they break down the report. they give you an analysis of all 5 of the elements of your score: payment history; debt usage; credit age; account mix; inquiries. in each case, there's a description of how to better handle your accounts, etc. to maximize your score overall.
they allow you to update every 30 days.
okay...on to the next one; i will return with more information shortly.
back again!
okay...i've just checked out creditkarma.com to see if i had bad karma or good karma. and don't forget that JOHN LENNON warned us that "instant karma's gonna get you."
this site is also aligned with transunion, just as credit.com is. but where credit.com tells me i am blessed and highly favored with a wonderful credit history, my karma is only "satisfactory." what a comedown! if i was that way, i'd be seriously depressed about now.
bear with me, please, as i am still viewing their site and writing at the same time. they have a nice feature - a bar graph that shows how credit scores break down nationally. for example, 5.7% of scores are between 800 and 850; 15.9% are between 750 and 799; 17% are between 700 and 749; 13.9% are between 650 and 699; 12% between 600 and 649; 9.6% between 550 and 599; 7.9% between 500 and 549; 6.5% between 450 and 499; 5.4% between 400 and 449; 4.2% between 350 and 399; 2.1% between 300 and 349.
i guess since 2.1% is the smallest grouping, that makes those people quite special - it's almost exclusive territory. sorry...i know it relates to actual people; i'm just trying to inject a little levity into the proceedings.
you can click on a link that gives you a "grade" in the following areas: (1) credit card utilization (the less you use your card(s), the better; (2) percent of on-time payments; (3) average age of open credit lines (the older the better); (4) total accounts (a "healthy mix" of cards, loans, mortgages is best); (5) hard credit inquiries (they analyze the last 2 years and the fewer the better); (6) total debt (they add up all your balances); (7) debt to income ratio (if you tell them your income, they'll calculate it - i didn't).
there is a credit simulator, which you can use to plug in a credit event and see how it affects your score. i tried it and it didn't seem to do much. a review i read earlier thought it quite helpful. maybe for others, but i didn't find it all that helpful.
with this site, you can update your score as often as you'd like. obviously, if you're trying to achieve an increase in score, this is a benefit you may wish to take advantage of.
here is my summary of the three sites: karma.com; quizzle.com; credit.com
overall, i felt best-served by credit.com, and i was least impressed by quizzle. all certainly have good features, and it's not harmful to check all three if you are interested. hey, maybe i like credit.com because it said i was a credit ace instead of just average - who knows?
the best part of all 3 sites is that they are truly, 100% free. you do not need to do anything except sign up. i think i spied that there are services you can buy, but i don't think anything that you have to pay for, especially given what you can do free, is worth the pain and the trouble.
no matter what else you do, it's always worthwhile to go to annualcreditreport.com to check your actual reports. you'll want to look out for any errors that could adversely affect you.
the credit agencies are required by law to provide you with a free credit report every 12 months through this site.
okay...i've just checked out creditkarma.com to see if i had bad karma or good karma. and don't forget that JOHN LENNON warned us that "instant karma's gonna get you."
this site is also aligned with transunion, just as credit.com is. but where credit.com tells me i am blessed and highly favored with a wonderful credit history, my karma is only "satisfactory." what a comedown! if i was that way, i'd be seriously depressed about now.
bear with me, please, as i am still viewing their site and writing at the same time. they have a nice feature - a bar graph that shows how credit scores break down nationally. for example, 5.7% of scores are between 800 and 850; 15.9% are between 750 and 799; 17% are between 700 and 749; 13.9% are between 650 and 699; 12% between 600 and 649; 9.6% between 550 and 599; 7.9% between 500 and 549; 6.5% between 450 and 499; 5.4% between 400 and 449; 4.2% between 350 and 399; 2.1% between 300 and 349.
i guess since 2.1% is the smallest grouping, that makes those people quite special - it's almost exclusive territory. sorry...i know it relates to actual people; i'm just trying to inject a little levity into the proceedings.
you can click on a link that gives you a "grade" in the following areas: (1) credit card utilization (the less you use your card(s), the better; (2) percent of on-time payments; (3) average age of open credit lines (the older the better); (4) total accounts (a "healthy mix" of cards, loans, mortgages is best); (5) hard credit inquiries (they analyze the last 2 years and the fewer the better); (6) total debt (they add up all your balances); (7) debt to income ratio (if you tell them your income, they'll calculate it - i didn't).
there is a credit simulator, which you can use to plug in a credit event and see how it affects your score. i tried it and it didn't seem to do much. a review i read earlier thought it quite helpful. maybe for others, but i didn't find it all that helpful.
with this site, you can update your score as often as you'd like. obviously, if you're trying to achieve an increase in score, this is a benefit you may wish to take advantage of.
here is my summary of the three sites: karma.com; quizzle.com; credit.com
overall, i felt best-served by credit.com, and i was least impressed by quizzle. all certainly have good features, and it's not harmful to check all three if you are interested. hey, maybe i like credit.com because it said i was a credit ace instead of just average - who knows?
the best part of all 3 sites is that they are truly, 100% free. you do not need to do anything except sign up. i think i spied that there are services you can buy, but i don't think anything that you have to pay for, especially given what you can do free, is worth the pain and the trouble.
no matter what else you do, it's always worthwhile to go to annualcreditreport.com to check your actual reports. you'll want to look out for any errors that could adversely affect you.
the credit agencies are required by law to provide you with a free credit report every 12 months through this site.
Hi George,
That was really a good explanation of all the 3 websites that you visited regarding free credit reports. :)
However, I agree that it's always better to visit annualcreditreport.com in order to get the actual report. It is the "only" certified source from where one can get free annual credit report under federal law. And as you've said, as per the Fair Credit Reporting Act, one can access free credit report from each of the three nationwide reporting agencies annually - Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
In order to get a free credit report from annualcreditreport.com, one has to place a request via phone or by mail. One can apply for all the three reports at once or to order one report at a time. Their phone number is 1-877-322-8228. Or else, one can fill out the Annual Credit Report Request form. This request form needs to be mailed to the following address in order to get the free credit report:
Annual Credit Report Request Service,
P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta,
GA 30348-5281.
Sussane
That was really a good explanation of all the 3 websites that you visited regarding free credit reports. :)
However, I agree that it's always better to visit annualcreditreport.com in order to get the actual report. It is the "only" certified source from where one can get free annual credit report under federal law. And as you've said, as per the Fair Credit Reporting Act, one can access free credit report from each of the three nationwide reporting agencies annually - Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
In order to get a free credit report from annualcreditreport.com, one has to place a request via phone or by mail. One can apply for all the three reports at once or to order one report at a time. Their phone number is 1-877-322-8228. Or else, one can fill out the Annual Credit Report Request form. This request form needs to be mailed to the following address in order to get the free credit report:
Annual Credit Report Request Service,
P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta,
GA 30348-5281.
Sussane
but in the internet age, i cannot believe you neglected their website, sussane! its annualcreditreport.com, to reiterate.
that's where you'll get the definitive report with the definitive scores - but remember that they'll still try to sell you all the "extras" that make them tons of money.
that's where you'll get the definitive report with the definitive scores - but remember that they'll still try to sell you all the "extras" that make them tons of money.
you can easily access the annual credit report from the three of agecies Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion through annualcreditreport.com you just need to fill the form fill all the details and mail it to them so thta you can track your report so that you can maintain the credit scores and you can be alert if there any fraud thing is going in your reports
Regards
aby
Regards
aby
Hi George,
Thank you for taking the time to check out and review Quizzle.com! It's always helpful to hear from folks who use our website.
Quizzle is the only place on the Web that gives you *both* a free credit report and free credit score, no catches, no trial subscriptions, no credit card required. To protect your personal information, we put the top safeguards in place, including identity verification questions. If you didn't receive your credit report and score, it's likely because you didn't answer one or more of our security questions correctly.
If you'd like to check out the full Quizzle experience - including getting a free copy of your Experian credit report and score - please feel free to give me a shout at annmarie[at]quizzle[dot]com. I'd be happy to research your situation and get you Quizzling in no time.
Thanks again for visiting the site! Hope to hear from you.
Best,
Ann-Marie Murphy
Quizzle.com
Thank you for taking the time to check out and review Quizzle.com! It's always helpful to hear from folks who use our website.
Quizzle is the only place on the Web that gives you *both* a free credit report and free credit score, no catches, no trial subscriptions, no credit card required. To protect your personal information, we put the top safeguards in place, including identity verification questions. If you didn't receive your credit report and score, it's likely because you didn't answer one or more of our security questions correctly.
If you'd like to check out the full Quizzle experience - including getting a free copy of your Experian credit report and score - please feel free to give me a shout at annmarie[at]quizzle[dot]com. I'd be happy to research your situation and get you Quizzling in no time.
Thanks again for visiting the site! Hope to hear from you.
Best,
Ann-Marie Murphy
Quizzle.com
i think i should have titled this post differently. it was my intent to post this as a service to all those who wish to know more about their own credit scores, and how to use/improve/review them.
hopefully, there'll be more hits in the near future.
hopefully, there'll be more hits in the near future.