Comments on: Want Your Credit Score? Be Prepared to Pay For It

By: miranda

miranda — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:43:35 +0000

Thanks for sharing, Ken! I’m headed over there now…

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:32:49 +0000

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.

By: miranda

miranda — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:50:02 +0000

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.

By: ML

ML — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:21:04 +0000

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.

By: miranda

miranda — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:10:11 +0000

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.

By: StudentDC Interactive » Blog Archive » Don’t use “Freecreditreport.com” - here’s why

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:30:39 +0000

[...] A fellow blogger wrote a post today about credit reports, saying you should avoid “Freecreditreport.com” because of the fine print. Read her post here: http://www.yieldingwealth.com/want-your-credit-score-be-prepared-to-pay-for-it/ [...]

By: Jean Murray

Jean Murray — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:16:38 +0000

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

By: Miki

Miki — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:09:48 +0000

“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!

By: William

William — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:04:55 +0000

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… :)

By: miranda

miranda — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:40:39 +0000

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.