Getting Your Credit Reports It is beneficial to gain credit reports from Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax to keep a check on your fiscal state. Credit reports in your credit files include details of payment histories, credit limit/balance, credit history, credit new accounts or inquiries, etc. This information is typically applied to your credit scores and this affects your ability to be approved for loans, credit cards, mortgages, rental agreements, or sometimes employment or insurance premiums. It may be difficult to locate the site, which provides the three reports at a cheap price and within a single place. In this article, I will explain why one should check all possible credit reports and will list the best sites where you can check all your reports from all three bureaus.
Why Get Three Credit Reports?
You do have three active credit reports, one for each of the bureaus that maintain your credit files. They should ideally be filled with similar data; however, there might be some variance between them. For instance, you may only have your credit card account information being reported to a single or two bureaus. One particular credit card may have late payments reported while others do not. There is a low difference between the three bureaus, and even one inconsistency can affect your rating with all of them due to the models they employ.
Getting all three reports allows you to:
- Notice any mistake or fraudulent or suspicious activity that may be observed only in one report. Contrary to what most people believe, students can challenge mistakes, and in the process, make their scores better.
- Observe a more holistic view of your credit history and balance owed on the existing loans. This is useful when planning your finances or when trying to obtain some form of credit.
- Make sure to compare and differentiate between bureaus and the scores and details that are being reported. They are useful in identifying areas that require improvement, depending on how they differ from the target type.
- It is useful to save all the reports and use them as a basis for comparison to identify changes in clients over time. You are permitted to receive one credit report from each of the bureaus in a year without charge.
Getting full reports from Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax was a herculean task in the past involving writing directly to each of the three companies through mail and paying for processing charges. Today, federal law gives you the right to receive these three reports simultaneously at your own pace using authorized internet services.
Here are the Leading Websites to Access the Three Credit Reports If you want one easy stop to check your reports from all three major credit bureaus, consider these top recommended websites:
AnnualCreditReport.com The website, that is federally authorized to provide the service, is AnnualCreditReport. com, whereby one is allowed to request the three credit reports once within 12 months. This means that you will have to complete an identity verification process for Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion by providing your name, address social security number, and date of birth to get a copy of your raw credit reports. This is the official site and is established solely for the purpose where consumers can exercise their legal right to request annual reports.
Pros:
- Completely free service
- There will be no negative effect that will pull down your credit scores just because you have accessed the reports.
- The advantage is that it is always accessible at any given time of the day or night.
Cons:
- There are no frequent updates of the full reports given; they are offered only once per year.
- A website can be slow, or it might have some technical issues or it may not load properly.
- Challenging report findings that are incorrect cannot be done on-site
IdentityForce UltraSecure+Credit For close tracking across three credit bureaus, there is IdentityForce, which is a highly recommended credit monitoring service. It offers free daily or weekly monitoring of your credit report and score from TransUnion. UltraSecure + Credit: This has the tri-bureau monitoring feature whereby they send you an alert daily the moment they experience a change with your Equifax or Experian reports. Customizable alerts, dark web scanning, and identity theft insurance are offered as powerful options for protection.
Pros:
- Full And Unrestricted TransUnion report usage
- Checks daily for changes with Equifax and Experian
- The facility of tri-bureau monitoring in one place
- Measures taken for identity protection are
Cons:
- The monthly cost is slightly higher as compared to others at $24. 90
- Despite the monitoring as shown below in the tables, only one report appears to be visible even as the monitoring was done for all.
IdentityGuard Total Protection As an identity and credit monitoring service company, IdentityGuard has been in the market for more than 50 years and is trusted by millions of users to provide the ultimate protection. This mid-tier plan is called Total Protection and provides eyes on all three of your credit reports at once. Whenever there is any report of change, notifications are sent to the user’s email or text message to investigate.
Pros:
- They used to monitor all three credit reports in one place
- $19. 99 for monitoring by the three credit bureaus every month
- Notifications when the score changes, if any undesired activities occur, etc
Cons:
- Another difference is that the access to credit reports appears to be one month behind.
- Several extra identity security services that increase the base price include
Credit Sesame Credit Sesame is relatively young in the field of personal financial monitoring, but they are equipped with tools that can assist in credit report review and scoring betterment. They offer free lifetime monitoring for consumer’s TransUnion credit reports including using the report as a service for as long as the consumer’s credit is active. Diagnosis tools allow the consumer to know the credit status of the company.
Pros:
- Having reports issued from TransUnion constantly
- There are so many free monitoring and analysis tools that are available in the market.
- I have offered my advice on how one can improve credit scores.
Cons:
- The only limitation that should be put in place is the unrestricted access given to one bureau.
- The other possibilities that can be placed alongside free services or products are other related products or services.
Measuring the Benefits and Costs As can be seen from the above review, each of the sites mentioned is recognized to offer credit report access but there is a variation in the perception of which of the sites is the best depending on the user’s requirements. In terms of cost, AnnualCreditReport remains the cheapest option with prices that can hardly be beaten. Since both IdentityForce and IdentityGuard also provide powerful tracking for all three reports with additional features, their propositions are also compelling. Finally, chasing services that provide access to your Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax credit files with notifications of any changes can be highly beneficial and safeguard.
Call now for expert credit repair services: (888) 803-7889
Read More:
Is it safe to put your SSN on Credit Karma?
Is there a risk to using Credit Karma?
How much would a $5000 loan cost per month?
How many people have a 750-credit score?
How rare is an 840-credit score?
