Credit reports have become the need for the hour for financial institutions across the country because they tell a lot about an individual’s credibility regarding being able to return a loan or not.
It is often requested by the officers in these institutions, and rightfully so. For credit cards and services users, it is mandatory to keep a check on their credit score before they go on to apply for such assistance because they are questioned heavily on the basis of the report. Amongst all this an important question stands; how do you obtain your credit report for free?
Free Credit Reports Exist
Anytime you visit a website or a service to get your credit report from the information you provide them with, you will notice the excessive use of the word ‘free’. This, in turn, can be a bit misleading because sometimes the free report comes at the cost of some not-so-free credit monitoring services which keep giving you updates regarding your score. This can be beneficial, but only if you have sufficient dough to spare.
From annualcreditreport.com, you can request your credit report for free annually from the three big firms in the US. These reports are extremely reliable because these firms hold general data on every credit transaction that takes place within and beyond the country. The trouble with the report, as the name suggests, is that it is released annually. So if you request it for the official final year, you will not get information about what has happened in the recent months.
Getting Free Updated Credit Reports
Today there exist many websites which use the same methods to calculate quite an accurate figure as your credit score and all the information compiled in the form of a report. The two requirements such organizations have from you are:
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Your personal data which reflects how you have used your credit benefits over time and how prompt and active you have been with usage and repayment.
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The right for them to advertise you as a success story of the service. This is a tactic which is being increasingly used worldwide so that firsthand customer experience can be shown to potential service users to imprint a positive image in their minds.
Are All Reports the Same?
After becoming an individual who is responsible regarding her/his credit score, you will soon realize that there exist some discrepancies which can make one report different from the other. A portion of the report is always based on speculation because barely any customer is able to provide a fully detailed track of the credit spending for the time frame in question.
The takeaway from these discrepancies is not that the reports cannot be trusted, however. Their major purpose is to give you and your potential creditor an important insight into whether you will be able to manage the burden of a massive amount credited to your account or not. As long as the conclusions drawn from each report remain roughly the same, the figures on the credit score become irrelevant.
