Insanely Easy Ways To Get A Free Credit Report

What is credit report?

Credit reports are used by companies to decide how much to lend and what interest rates to charge. They provide information about your credit histories such as loans, payments, overdue payments, and payments due to those you are looking to borrow money from.

Using the credit report, specialized firms create a credit score, or evaluation, based specifically on you.

When money lenders make decisions about what to give you, credit reports are what they refer to. Therefore, having a good financial relationship is useful when trying to get a loan: good historical relationships will allow you to access larger loan amounts, reduced interest rates, and preferable repayment plans. They can also help you consider your credit situation if you want to take out a loan in the future.

What is a credit score?

Credit Score Financial payment Rating Budget Money Concept

Credit Scoring is a score that is given to loan applicants by banks to report the possibility of paying their debts for the credit applicant. Maybe it’s a bit cynical as an operation, but for banks, it is rather efficient as a system. However, this does not mean that they only rely on this score to evaluate your reliability in repaying a loan.

The scores are given and the credit report can make it clear whether a company is reliable or not. There are advantages over credit rating.

How to get the best free credit report?

Now that you know the importance of financial reporting. It’s time to start looking at ways you can get a free annual report through the Internet. In the United States, the law on correct and accurate credit transactions has been implemented to ensure that free annual reports are provided by Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax within 12 months to anyone who wants to get one.

The main reason behind this act was to allow all citizens of the United States to see what information the credit bureaus have about them.

It also allows people to better monitor the status of their financial situation making it useful for managing national debt. Other benefits that this act has brought are the reduction of identity theft and also the reduction of errors in relationships.

Where to get a free credit report in the States?

Free credit score at Annual credit report
Federal Trade Commission
Equifax free credit report.
Transunion free credit report.

Where to get credit report for free in Canada?

Dowblaod a free credit report for free at Borrowell
Free credit report with Credit Karma
Mogo
At Ratehub you can access a free report

Having an option for a free annual credit report is awesome as it gives you a glips and a better understanding of how your financial report changes over the months.

What is credit rating?

The rating, or more correctly the credit rating, is a judgment of solvency; that is, it assesses the ability of a subject to repaying debts incurred. Commonly, the word “rating” is used as an abbreviation for the sovereign rating, which expresses an assessment of the ability of states, the largest debtors in absolute terms, to repay a public debt by repaying those who have purchased government bonds.

Although it is certainly the one that provokes the most fanfare in the newspapers, the sovereign rating is neither the only nor the main type of rating. The rating can also be issued:

on financial instruments (rating of financial instruments):
ratings assigned to financial investment means, such as shares or financial bonds (bonds, mini-bonds, etc.). They also take the name of issue rating, unlike the issuer ratings assigned to the companies;
on companies (corporate credit rating):
or assessments on the ability of a financial company or not to produce the resources necessary to meet the debts contracted (this also includes the bank rating, or the ratings assigned internally by banks to companies that apply for funding).

Difference between credit report and credit score

A person’s credit history has a great impact on his or her financial profile, as it is used by banks, utility companies, employers, landowners, etc. To determine creditworthiness.

Therefore, it is important to be aware of your credit report and credit score, compiled by credit reporting agencies, also known as credit bureaus. A credit report is a document that reflects a person’s credit history.

Based on the credit report information, a three-digit number is generated with the help of a mathematical formula which is called a credit score. A number of people often indicate the credit score for a credit report, so here we provide you with all the important differences between the credit report and the credit score.

Credit Report

A credit report is described as a snapshot of a person’s credit history, prepared by the credit agency considering their personal details and billing habits.

It includes information related to that person’s identity such as name, address, date of birth, social security number, etc. And his credit details like auto loans, education loans, credit card accounts, history of meeting obligations, and the amount owed to creditors.

In addition, a credit report also includes information relating to any court verdict against the person or if the person has filed for bankruptcy.

Credit Score

The credit score is defined as a three-digit number that determines the possibilities of repayment of the debt by the debtor. Highlights the credit report information and helps anticipate what the debt repayment possibilities are when it becomes due for payment.

This information is used by banks and financial institutions to determine whether to grant a loan or not, under what conditions the loan should be sanctioned, and the interest rate at which the loan is granted.

The credit score is based on a number of factors, which are, number, type and age of the accounts, outstanding debt, collection action against the person, invoice payment, currently available credit and so on.

The higher the credit score, the higher the financial reliability of the person, and the better the chances of qualifying for the loan, the rental of apartments, and so on.

How do I obtain my credit score for free?

Your credit score is only a number, but it can have a big impact on your life. If it is high enough, banks are going to compete to lend you money at low attractive interest rates. But if it is low, it can be blocked by paying through the nose for everything from credit card interests to auto loans.

A good credit score can mean the difference between the well-being of buying a house and spending your whole life on a rental. It can also affect your chances of getting insurance or landing a good job.

Understand your credit score

Your credit score is essentially a summary of how reliable you are. In other words, it shows the chances that if you lend money, you will pay it back in full and on time.

Why it’s important to get your free credit reports

The reason is quite simple to ensure that your credit bureau information is error free. Although the information you get from several credit bureau reports for free is pretty similar with minor variations between them. Review each report thoroughly to identify possible flaws or errors.

If you spot errors launch an online inquiry with the credit reporting company challenging all inaccurate information and advise them to correct it to your satisfaction.

If you notice new accounts opened under your name then you’re a victim of its identity theft.

File a police report and close all accounts that were opened under the false pretense. Take measures to protect yourself against identity theft, for instance locking your cell phone, shredding any documents with your Social Security number (Social Insurance Numbers-Canada), protect your mail, mixing up your passwords different accounts, sign up for fraud alerts, and never give your personal information to shady websites.

FICO score

The actual number is calculated based on the information in the credit report or, to be more precise, the three credit reports. These are maintained by the three major credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and Transunion – which receive information from lenders about the people they have given loans to. This information focuses on how much money you have borrowed over the years and how much you have repaid it reliably.

At this point, another company comes into play, called Fair Isaac Corporation (or FICO). FICO has created a formula that uses the information of your credit reports to produce a number between 300 and 850: your credit score.

If you borrowed money from different sources and always repaid it promptly, you should have a high score, indicating that you are a good credit risk. However, problems like bankruptcy, invoices sent to a collection agency or even a lot of late payments can add up to a low score.

What’s the effect of pulling a credit report to your score?

Well checking your credit score does not affect your overall credit score. Because it counts a soft credit pull and is used for information purposes only.

When a “hard” credit is pulled by a lender directly for example when applying for a mortgage, surely does affect your credit score.

A soft credit check offers similar information as a hard credit inquiry does. For instance, your monthly payment and credit history, how you manage debt, any derogatory marks existing on your credit score.

Soft inquiries mostly happen without you even knowing it for example when you’re opening a bank account. A financial institution may pull a soft credit check to see if you qualify for a minimal credit card or overdraft protection.

Why is information on two different credit reports different?

If you get a credit report for free and the financial institution pulls theirs from a different credit bureau. There will obviously be differences in the reports due to the data being pulled from two different reports.
The financial institution could be based on their pulled credit reports

Is annual credit report trustworthy enough?

The three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion fund AnnualCreditReport LLC to maintain it centrally so it is worth trusting.

AnnualCreditReport also provides free consumer advice on how to avoid identity theft, how to read and interpret a credit report.

Conclusion

When creditors want to decide whether to lend you money, they give you credit. This means that they pay one or more credit bureaus to take a look at your credit report and can review your FICO score at the same time. The higher your score, the better your chances of being approved for a loan on favorable terms.

Request a free credit report at least twice a year to review any potentially disastrous instances of identity theft. Crooks have become very sophisticated with so many ingenious tricks to get your Social Security numbers (Social Insurance Numbers-Canada) use them to apply for credit cards and lines of credit under false names.

Also, take good care of your snail mail because if they get their hands on your pre-approved credit cards that’s an easy freebie for them. However, a huge blow to your credit score if they max it out as the default mark on the credit history will be attributed to you.