HOT: Free credit report for anyone

[KingNothing]

All you have to do is go to a bank and open a checking account. They will check your credit. Ask the person opening the account to give you a copy of the report since they're ordering it anyway. If you're feeling lucky, see if they'll order you a report just because you ask for one, just because you'll close the account anyway.

I just did this with the Citibank $150 deal, I'm getting my $150 and a free credit report.

 

[Souka]

Hmmm....sounds interesting.

What credit agency? there is like 4 of them now......

 

[psianime]

It's good to look at your credit report every year just in case.

-psianime

 

[SafetyDance]

Having someone pull your credit report generally hurts your score - I think that's called a hard pull. If you pull it yourself directly from the reporting agencies, it does not hurt your score - I think that's called a soft pull.

Mike

 

[Winchester]

I got my credit report and it said I was married :Q . Not that I know of, well if I am then Clinton is getting more action than I am, which is none.

 

[SharkyTM]

thats surprising... every time someone (or somecompany (not a typo) ) pulls your credit report, it hurts it? Doesnt make sense to me... If you go buy a car and get it financed, they pull your credit report... same with getting a credit card, and applying for a loan on a house or piece of property. Psianime, i'd double check your statement. If every time a company checked your credit report, they made it worse, then people who took out a lot of loans (business', homeowners, the upwardly mobile) would have sh@t for credit... they obviously dont.

my $.02
Shark

 

[Walliser]

Inquiries do lower your credit score, that is, unless they are inquiries such as: landlords, insurance etc. Inquiries by credit card card companies and banks do lower your score.

Inquiries that you made yourself do not affect the score, as supposedly you are the only one who will see them, or so they claim.

Personally, I don't think this thing is a good idea. This seems more like YMMV to me, you may be able to get a copy of your credit report but what you will get for sure is an entry on your report that counts against you.

 

[xirtam]

It doesn't hurt your credit score. I've had several inquiries into my no-credit status before getting credit, and several inquiries after. Nobody's complaining.

Sounds like a great idea, KingNothing. Maybe I oughta give that a try

 

[JOnBrown]

Can you tack this additional information onto the $150 dollar Citibank thread that I posted? So that we can have all the good information and possibilities of that deal in one place?

 

[ddjkdg]

10% of your credit score is based on the number of inquiries on your report.

 

[FrancescoRinaldi]

Someone that works for the big 3 (Experian, Equifax, Transunion) would be best to ask, but my guesstimate: Asking for a copy of the report isn't going to hurt your credit rating any further (most people are already going to take a hit for the credit check and for opening a new account)

My understandings:

Things that are 'negatives' -- not being in "good standing" with your current credit cards, opening alot of accounts (particularly if they are unnecessary -- hint: if you're opening this account just to get the 150 and run, you're going to be taking a big, short term, hit to your credit rating... hopefully you aren't planning to buy a house or get a car loan soon ), making alot of major transfers (shuffling your bills from one card to the next), carrying too much debt for your income

To a lesser extent: Credit card companies running checks on you so they can send you different offers (not as bad as actually taking the offers and these checks disappear after a year or two, I think), not using your cards (if you have a card with $5000 limit and don't use any of it, you're probably better off closing the account unless you plan to use it in the near future), closing accounts (not as bad as leaving an account open usually)

'Positives': Paying off your balances, to some extent carrying a reasonable balance (but paying more than the minimum), having only as many cards/account as you need.

Anyway, that's my take: If you're going to open the account anyway, doesn't hurt you any further to get a copy of the report if they're willing to provide it. I'd wager to say the report won't be the "full" report you can get online, plus they may run a different type of report (a local bank did a check with ChexSystems, for example).


hifive to ddjkdg for the link... I think I actually covered most of it (except for length of time) without reading the article *flex*

 

[KingNothing]

Originally posted by: ddjkdg
10% of your credit score is based on the number of inquiries on your report.

Great article, howstuffworks is an awesome site. One thing we really don't know is how many inquiries it takes to produce a noticeable difference on your score. One section said "if you have a lot" that's bad, and another section said avoid inquiries if at all possible.

In my case, I was going to open the account anyway so I took advantage of it. But perhaps the other thread on getting one free report per year is the best way.

 

[xirtam]

The other thing we don't know is which inquiries are recorded.

I don't have any inquiries reported on my report, although I've had several. I've never taken out a loan, though.

 

[pETerCOolZ]

thanks for the howsstuffworks article!

 

[FrancescoRinaldi]

Forgot to mention: You can get a very generic report (but free) at WorthKnowing They rate you on a 100 point scale, and they (in my experience) include things that even the big 3 don't, but it's easy and quick and would be a good indicator to people that score low that they may want to take the other avenues to getting their "real" reports and checking them out.

 

[Vic]

FYI on this:
- Inquiries do not necessarily hurt your score, as the scoring model depends on how many inquiries and in what timeframe. A single inquiry should not damage your credit score. 5 inquiries in the last month may or may not. 20 in the last 3 months will, but the damage will be nothing compared to a missed payment. Also, a federal law in 1999 changed the credit scoring system to where multiple inquiries from the same industry and within a 10 day period all score as one. This was done to allow people to shop for the best financing in a limited timeframe without damaging their credit.
The reason why creditors are worried about inquiries is because they are concerned about a borrower opening multiple lines of credit at the same time without the new lenders knowing about the others. Credit reports tend to report 1-3 months after the fact, so a new line may not show on a report for up to 3 months after it has been opened (but the inquiry will be there). Creditors don't just use payment history and credit score in determining credit worthiness, they also use income and debt ratio, and they need to know about every credit line in order to accurately pr.

- And just because the bank might pull your credit does not mean that they can or will give you a free copy. In fact, many financial institutions have contractual arrangements with credit providers and/or the bureaus that they will NOT give customers free copies of their credit report (this is generally done in return for a lower cost per pull).

 

[ldreher]

Originally posted by: xirtam
It doesn't hurt your credit score. I've had several inquiries into my no-credit status before getting credit, and several inquiries after.

Sorry but I disagree. I'm in the business and, believe me, too many inquiries will lower your score. What is too many? That number depends on other factors but you don't want vendor pulls for no reason.