To this, I have the following questions:
Operating in the United States are Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax three credit reporting companies. These companies compile consumer credit histories and provide credit reports along with credit ratings to many lenders. Particularly with the 2017 data hack that saw the personal information of about 145 million Americans disclosed to the public, Equifax has been under a lot of scrutiny recently. This raises even another question: is the customer able to pay Equifax for their services?
Here is what you need to know:
I have to underline to you, the reader, that your credit report is free of cost.
If you so like a free credit report from each of the three credit reference agencies—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—under the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), at least once every 12 months. Your free yearly credit reports are available at the government-approved website annual credit report. com or by phone number (877) 322-8228. Federal law allows this approach to get your Equifax credit report for free.
Partially Paid Credit Monitoring Services are Optional
Numerous credit monitoring services come with fees, including Equifax, which will offer you other features apart from the three free credit reports. This entails more frequent credit report checking and notification at any time that specific changes are made to your credit file. Nonetheless, subscribing to a monthly/annual credit monitoring service is not mandatory but just an additional service you need to pay for. You can do this all yourself for free to monitor your credit report instead. Again, remember no one should pay to get a credit monitoring service from Equifax or any of the bureaus to check their reports or scores.
Thus, it is not obligatory to pay for your credit score.
In addition to your credit report, Equifax and other credit bureaus have no qualms about selling your credit score and other analytics. Understand that only through MyFICOcom, and Fair Isaac Corporation which created FICO scores, you can obtain FICO credit scores and other services. Some credit card statements offer free FICO scores or one free trial of FICO scores is offered in some services. It is also important to know that many personal finance websites, such as Credit Karma, offer credit scores for free without having to deal with Equifax. However, using your credit card to pay Equifax for your credit score or analytics is a decision you are free to make on your own even though they constantly encourage consumers to do so.
Prices typically reflect what customers may need to pay for monitoring after fraud.
If you have ever been the victim of identity theft or your data was provided to a third party such as the customers of Equifax in 2017, then yes, there are paid extra services for monitoring. It is logical to buy credits after any breach that affects the financial information to ensure that nobody has committed any fraudulent act. However, there are always methods through which one can obtain fraud alerts/protection, credit freezes, or monitor credit reports often after fraud for which one is not required to sign up and pay Equifax every month. It is just possible to pay them, but it doesn’t mean that you are obliged to do that in cases of fraud, for instance.
Of course, no one is forced to go to Equifax to get services that will help them improve their credit score.
Some people point out that all consumers have to pay or use Equifax since this company has so much of people’s data and is one of the three major credit bureaus in the country. However, no situation may push any consumer to buy something from Equifax or pay them for the service of monitoring the credit activity. However, if for instance, Equifax has your credit history data you are fully in charge even if you did not know this. As long as you get your one free credit report every year and you go through the report checking for any inaccuracies, you do not need to subscribe or pay anything to Equifax for any of their services. This they do by putting a lot of effort into marketing paid products that guarantee security and ease. Nevertheless, monitoring your credit files is free of charge at any time.
Thus, it would be ideal for the company if all the consumers were to pay Equifax every month for premium services such as credit reports. However it is not mandatory to buy any of their services or monitoring plans, and they can be availed at an additional cost. According to federal law, you are entitled to receive your Equifax credit report for free. Checking it yourself does not incur any charges at all and can be done frequently. And protection services are finally things that you are free to decide on yourself rather than something you have to take from Equifax. Even as they keep our data in their grossly exposed databases after hacks, no one is forced to pay or subscribe to Equifax because of their lapses. So, for example, it is recommended to check credit reports at least once a year, watch over your identity yourself, and not succumb to Equifax’s pressure to sign up for an expensive paid subscription for your data.
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