Credit Reports, Scores & Monitoring
Selecting the right credit report, credit score, and credit monitoring products can be difficult. Credit.com helps you compare and choose quickly, by providing easy-to-read reviews, side-by-side comparisons, and expert analysis to make selecting the best credit score, report, monitoring or identity theft protection product easy. Start by using our credit product guide below to find the type of product that fits your needs.
Credit Report & Score Product Guide
Free Trial Credit Score
Credit score products feature:
- Free score trials
- Instant online access
- Explanation of your credit score
- Ongoing credit score and report updates with subscription
Credit Reports & Monitoring
Credit monitoring products feature:
- Explanation of your credit score
- Timely credit monitoring and alerts
- Unlimited, instant access
- Analysis of your credit profile
Identity Theft Protection
Identity theft protection products feature:
- Analysis of your credit profile from all 3 credit bureaus
- Timely credit monitoring and alerts
- Unlimited, instant access
- Insurance and resolution services
Credit Reports on Twitter
@stefsull Son is applying for a job. They want a credit report 1st to verify he’s not an illegal – then interview. @stefsull tweets that her son is trying to get a job and they company is insisting on running a credit report before doing an interview, to “verify he’s not an illegal.” Sounds suspicious to us. There are plenty of ways to determine citizenship besides a credit report… and we recently reported that some companies are getting in trouble for this practice. How to Read Your Credit ReportCredit reports are the files that credit report agencies maintain about your credit history and share with the rest of the world...read more Tip: Checking Your Own Credit Report Won't Hurt Your ScoresContrary to popular belief, checking your own credit reports will not hurt your credit scores. You can check your credit reports as often as you’d like. Only when you apply for new credit or loans does a “hard inquiry” count against you. Pulling your own credit report counts instead as a “soft inquiry” and has no impact on your credit scores. |
What is a Credit Report?Consumers looking to buy a home, get a credit card, or obtain some other form of financial help have to clear a pretty big hurdle. It's called a credit report. Credit reports are used by creditors to see how you've managed previous credit obligations and to determine whether or not you're a good credit risk. It tells them whether it's a good bet that you'll pay off that big credit card payment or make payments on that new Cadillac right on time. » Read Latest: How to Build Your Credit Responsibly Creditors make those calculations based on the data included in your credit report. As a U.S. citizen, and presumably the owner of a Social Security number, you're financial history is a public record. In virtually all cases, your financial background can be found, condensed and including payment history, at any one of three credit report agencies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Each of these companies are veritable clearinghouses of personal financial information of anybody, citizen or not, with a U.S. Social Security number. The data that each of the "Big Three" accumulates are the meat and potatoes of your credit report – any one piece of data can mean the loss of a home loan or the rejection of a credit card application due to weak credit. The list of organizations who can view your credit report is a limited one. It includes:
Your credit report is also used to generate your credit score (also known as a credit rating). That score indicates whether you're a god credit risk or not. A high score means you're a good candidate to pay back a loan – on time. A low score means you have a history of not doing such a great job of paying back your debts. Credit reports include key identifying information such as your name, current and former addresses, your employer (if it's available), credit and loan histories, inquiries, collection records and public records such as bankruptcy filings and tax liens. Each of record of previous and current credit and loan records will show your payment history going back 7 years, along with other account details like credit limit, when the account was established, the type of account (installment, revolving,), etc. Your credit report is essentially your financial resume. It's up to you to keep it as clean as possible. Your financial future may well depend on it. More Credit Report Resources |
