Want Your Credit Score? Be Prepared to Pay For It
June 3, 2008 by Miranda Marquit
Filed under Finance
A lot is written about your credit score:
- How to improve your credit score (from paying down credit card debt to paying your bills on time).
- What goes into a credit score (payment history, amounts owed, etc.).
- Why your credit score is important (better rates, loan approval and more).
- Where to find your credit score (MyFico.com, major credit bureaus).
But what isn’t addressed very much is how much you will pay to see your credit score.
It doesn’t cost that much: $5.95 to $15.95 per score, depending on where you go and the services that come with it.
But it still costs money. And you usually have to pay for each score individually — unless you get some sort of complete score, which will cost between $35 and $50 for a report plus all three scores.
Quite honestly, I think that lenders and creditors, employers and landlords, should pay to see this information and only after you have granted your permission.
But I think that you should have access to it for free. And not just the free annual credit report from each bureau that is required by law (it doesn’t include your credit score). It’s information about your life and your habits and it affects your personal finances in a very real way. You shouldn’t have to pay for what already should be yours. But you do anyway.
What do you think? Should you have to pay to see your credit score?
image credit: sxc.hu
Miranda, this is a really timely post for me. Not 10 minutes ago, my husband was trying to download his credit report and see his credit score. “Why do they want to charge me $14.95 on FreeCreditReport.com?” he asked. It’s a great question.
It’s MY information, so why should I have to pay for it when, like you said, employers and lenders can get it for free? Maybe if employers had to shell out cash every time they want to check someone’s credit, they will stop doing it for people who simply do NOT need credit checks. Hmm, there’s a thought!
Kristen
Others DO have to pay to get access to your credit score — and that’s as it should be.
BTW, I don’t recommend freecreditreport.com. You have to sign up for a monthly service to get your “free” credit report. Instead, go to annualcreditreport.com. But you’ll still have to pay for your credit scores…
Thanks for the warning on freecreditreport.com. I saw that fine print in their ads (very catchy ads if I do say so). It seems so evil. Maybe Pepsi should start calling them selves FreeBeverages and then if you read the fine print you realize the beverage is free if you buy the can.
LOL.
I like the ads, too. But there really should be more than the fine print. And when you go to get your “free” credit report, you get a rude awakening…
Why is it that the few really good ads we see in the US are for iffy-to-bad products?
I read somewhere that too frequent checking of your credit score actually hurts, since the number of inquiries affects the score.
Damned if you do and damned if you don’t:)
Actually, your score isn’t hurt if you keep regular tabs. What dings your credit are “hard” inquiries into your credit. These are inquiries that you authorize for lenders, the cable company, employers, etc. Supposedly, the inquiries made by those “prescreened” offers don’t hurt your credit, either.
I wasted an afternoon trying to get my son untangled from the freecreditreport.com scam. They had been charging a credit card he never uses for $39.95 a month for a service he didn’t need not want. They run you through the gauntlet of dept.s and double talk.
I finally just called VISA and had it charged back to them.
It’s amazing that the gov’t agencies that come down on Howard Stern for fart jokes and Janet Jackson for wardrobe malfunctions allow major ad campaigns for scam products from snake oil salesmen and Bentley-driving faith healers.
Thanks for sharing, Sean! We really do have some messed priorities in this country. Unfortunately, those that oppose the regs have deep pockets (sort of like those who have problems w/wardrobe malfunctions). It would be nice if we could be protected from something that we actually need protection from.
And we need better financial education overall in this country besides. Teach it along with math and reading.
Miranda you’re a genius. I whole-heartedly agree that it is incredibly lame that you have to pay for something that is essentially yours. I mean you create your credit score through your financial habits do you not? So one would think that you’d have the legal rights to your created property (…maybe you could copyright your personal credit score??…) All kidding aside, however, I don’t think you should have to pay for your credit scores, but I also don’t think I should have to pay for a lot of things…(like drinking water, student body fees and the million other fees they tack on to your tuition…) but sadly that’s the capitalistic life we live in. Happily though we live in a democracy also (well close enough anyway) and we can hope for change…assuming we don’t keep electing sub-pars to office… :)
“It would be nice if we could be protected from something that we actually need protection from.”
Hahaha, Miranda. That’s the folks making the laws!
I have been telling students to use freecreditreport.com – I will stop NOW! Thanks for the information.
I do also recommend annualcreditreport.com, but it’s pretty useless without the score. This is what a bank wants.
A tip for those who are taking a business plan to banks for a business loan: Pay for all three scores on annualcreditreport.com and take the whole thing to each bank. If they ask to run a report, have them look at the one you have. That way you won’t have all the banks doing “hard hits” on your credit.
Jean
Thanks, Will. Only my brother would think I’m a genius. Although I suspect you’re joking ;)
Great suggestion, Jean! You can get all three scores from one of the credit bureaus. That’s what we did. Of course, the mortgage lender will still require you to pay for a credit report through them when you start the process in earnest.
Unfortunately, there is no way to get a credit score without paying for it. Which is the point, I guess. Since it’s what the banks want, you eventually have to pay to get it. With the free report from annualcreditreport.com, you can at least check for accuracy and other problems.
I think is ridiculuous for me to have to pay for information that it is expected I know and furthe rbelongs to me.
Thank you for the post, hope something is done to remedy this.
I agree. It is silly to have to pay for your credit score. It is vital financial information that is used to determine many aspects of your personal finances. Your job, whether you get an apartment, the kind of rate you get on insurance, how much you pay in interest and more can all be affected by your credit score.
We all have a right to know what it is. We should contact our politicians and make sure they know that we want a free credit score from each of the bureaus once a year — in addition to a free credit report.
Miranda, I totally agree with you. I invite you to try http://creditkarma.com. It’s a pro-consumer service that provides truly free credit scores with no hidden costs or obligations.
I am the founder and CEO, I invite you and your readers to try the service and let me know what you think. We gave been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today.
Thanks for sharing, Ken! I’m headed over there now…