Happy Friday!

Post from: EveryJoe

Friday Fun Video: FTC Credit Report Ad

Happy Friday!

Post from: EveryJoe

Friday Fun Video: FreeCreditReport.com

Now, however, it is possible to check your credit report and your score from TransUnion, as much as you want, for six months. The reason? Apparently a clas action lawsuit settlement resulting from TransUnion’s practice of selling consumer profiles to third parties. At any rate, you can go to listclassaction.com to sign up.

Hat tip for this story: My Two Dollars.

Post from: EveryJoe

Free Credit Report and Score from TransUnion

From now through July 31st, myFico is offering online communities a 20% discount on the FICO Credit Complete (all 3 FICO scored and reports) from. Visit http://www.myfico.com/Products/FICOThree/Description.aspx and enter the promo code BLOG20 to take advantage of this special offer.

This could be a good time to get everything at once, and see a complete personal finances snapshot — at least the snapshot of how lenders and others see you.

Post from: EveryJoe

Money Saving Tip: Get a Discount Credit Scores and Reports at MyFico.com

Regularly check your credit report.

Look for inaccuracies and take the steps to fix mistakes on your credit report. You are entitled to a free credit report each year from each of the three major credit bureaus.

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Post from: EveryJoe

Personal Finance Tip #18: Check Your Credit Report

I was wrong. And I’m glad to be.

Ken Lin over at Credit Karma contacted and let me know that there is a free service that allows you to see your credit score — and track how you are doing. It’s his own Credit Karma Web site.

It’s not free to Credit Karma, though. The company pays TransUnion for a copy of your credit score, which is then displayed. So you will have to provide your Social Security Number and identifying information. However, Lin insists, the information is never shared with third parties.

You can login to keep tabs on what your credit score is doing, and the Web site offers a number of helpful hints and information on credit scores and reports in general. Here is a screenshot from the Credit Karma Web site:

You can see where you fit in terms of credit score on a national scale, and you learn about the different scales used by each of the three major credit bureaus. I found this an exciting and helpful personal finances tool.

Since Credit Karma does pay for the credit score (instead of you), the Web site has to make money somehow. It does so through ad revenue and when you click on various offers that are listed on the site, along with your credit score. I think Ken Lin sums it up pretty well with what he told me via email:

We pay for the scores through our advertising revenue much like a Yahoo or Google. With that said, we don’t sell or share consumer information, we just sell advertising space. We think this is a win-win-win. Consumers get free access to something they should have always had. Advertisers get to message consumers without compromising consumer privacy. Credit bureaus continue to make money from the sale of the credit score.

It is important to note that this is just one company’s score, and that others’ scores aren’t on here. But Credit Karma does give you a general idea of where you are at, and that can be very helpful in terms of getting an idea of how you can improve how your personal finances look to banks, employers and landlords.

When used in conjunction with annualcreditreport.com, Credit Karma can be a great tool for monitoring your credit and keeping tabs on your financial history.

image source: screenshot at Credit Karma.

Post from: EveryJoe

Yes, It IS Possible to Get a Free Credit Score

1. How to improve your credit score (from paying down credit card debt to paying your bills on time).
2. What goes into a credit score (payment history, amounts owed, etc.).
3. Why your credit score is important (better rates, loan approval and more).
4. 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

Post from: EveryJoe

Want Your Credit Score? Be Prepared to Pay For It

I prefer a truly free credit report once a year from each of three bureaus via annualcreditreport.com. (Hint: Space them out and get one from a different bureau every four months.)

That said, enjoy the commercial. Happy Friday!

Post from: EveryJoe

Friday Fun Video: “Free” Credit Report Commercial

The government also sent a letter to her deceased husband, dated Nov. 16. It begins, “Dear Mr. Anderson: Our condolences on the loss of Mrs. Anderson …”

While humorous to us, it is important to note that there is a lesson here: It is important to periodically check your personal information. You want to make sure that clerical errors don’t tie things up later. Data entry is often done by hand, and from your credit report to insurance policies to just about anything else, the potential for error could cost you money.

Mrs. Anderson knows this. Until the government figures out whether or not she is dead, she won’t be getting her benefits. And that makes it hard for her to make ends meet.

Post from: EveryJoe

Personal Finances: The Importance of Checking Your Information

Some credit card companies (Discover notable among them) are in the habit of periodically checking your credit report. They look for things like increased purchases or credit inquiries that result in a lower score. And then they use it as an excuse to jack up your interest rate. This is a somewhat cruel and disheartening practice for some, especially since it makes it extra difficult to pay down a balance.

So I repeat my mantra: If you use credit cards, pay the balance off each month. If you do make a large or emergency purchase, do what is necessary to ensure that it is paid off in two or three months (six months at the very outside).

Credit cards benefit when you carry a balance. And you can destroy the value of any rewards by paying interest on credit card balances.

Post from: EveryJoe

What’s Your Credit Card Interest Rate?