Contact the 3 agencies (online) you will get a code. You will have to unlock your report before anyone can pull it. The unlock lasts for a short period and then re-locks. Could be a pita if you apply often. Other than that, good idea.How do you go about doing this and is there any negative impact?
Nope, your FICO score is not free, just the credit report. If you're denied credit anywhere though, you can typically request the information used to make the decision, which I would imagine would always contain your FICO.
Such as?The only credit score that matters is your FICO score. All the other scores that are bantered around to get you to buy them aren't worth the bandwidth used to send them to you. If it's not a FICO your wasting your money.
There are other scores that matter but they aren't available to the consumer.
Such as?
I use the Credit Score Tracker from Discover. It's similar to other services and cheap enough, although only tracks Experian but comes with a free monthly report from them. I get my reports from all three every year. I use Credit Karma for my Transunion report (It's free!)
To all those that discredit the score/reports, it can cost you lots of money and heartache when you try for a loan without knowing that your score is low because of something that is incorrect or easily fixable.
It's fiscally important to know your score and what's on you report.
boomhower said:That only gives the report from the credit company they based the decision on, not a score.
The only credit score that matters is your FICO score. All the other scores that are bantered around to get you to buy them aren't worth the bandwidth used to send them to you. If it's not a FICO your wasting your money.
Specialized scores like your auto enhanced score, insurance companies have one, even the utility companies have come up with one. Most lending institutions have their own score. Your FICO a lot of times is just a number in a formula.