Free Credit Score from Government Site
The average person knows that their credit rating is of vital importance in every aspect of his or her life, but there is still some amount of confusion as to the difference between a credit report and a credit score. There is a government site set up for getting your free annual credit report from each of the three reporting agencies, TransUnion, Experian and Equifax, but can you get a free credit score from government site?
The Difference between a Credit Score and a Credit Report
A credit report that you can get for free at the government site annualcreditreport.com contains your credit history. This report contains four categories which include identifying information, credit information, public records information and finally, recent inquiries made on your credit report. This is the document to review in order to see that everything is accurate and that there are no errors or fraudulent entries. This is also the information used to calculate your credit score.
Your Annual Credit Report is 100% Free
According to The Fair Credit Reporting Act, each and every consumer in the United States is entitled to a free credit report once each year from the three reporting agencies mentioned above. This report must be provided absolutely free upon request. First you must confirm your identity and they you can either access your report online or you can order it through the mail or on the telephone. Also, if you are denied credit throughout the year, you can request a copy from the reporting agency that provided the report upon which the credit decision was made. Both your free annual credit report and a copy of the �offending� report are yours by law upon request.
Is There Any Such Thing as a Free Credit Score From Government Site?
If you go to the site in question, annualcreditreport.com and browse through their FAQs, you will see that you are not entitled to your credit score for free. According to their site, you are given an opportunity to purchase your credit score from each of the three reporting agencies once you have obtained your free credit report. Also, each of those agencies uses different data and calculations to come up with a credit score so you may need to buy one from all three agencies. So what then is a credit score and how does it differ from a credit report.
How Is Your Credit Score Calculated?
For the three major agencies using your FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) credit score, there are five areas used to �grade� your creditworthiness and those areas include payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), new credit (10%) and types of credit (10%). However, there are different complex mathematical equations used and each agency has its own set of calculations which can vary to some degree. The only common denominator is that you are not given the right to request a free credit score each year, you are only given the legal right to request your credit report so that you can see what information it contains in order to contest it if there is a mistake or a fraudulent entry.
The next time you hear someone saying that you can get free credit score from government website, they are either mistaken or deliberately trying to mislead you. The only thing you can get from the government site for free is your annual credit report which you can also get from a trustworthy credit monitoring service which will also provide updated credit scores throughout the year.
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