Posted by John Scott Smith on Thu, Nov 19, 2009 @ 05:56 PM
When you are looking for a mortgage, you will be asked about your credit. Is it good? (Nowadays, better than a "640" is "good") Is it bad? Can you qualify for this loan? There are going to be LOTS of questions. Personal questions. And, you won't always know the answers to those questions. That is why I'm writing today's blog entry.
I've heard for years that EVERYONE is entitled to one free credit report per year. So, how do you get that report. Well, that's exactly what I set about to doing, this afternoon. Equipped with a mug of coffee, a package of Nutty Bars, and a phone, I set out on my mission. For you. You and the Nutty Bars.
There are three credit bureaus: Experian, Transunion, and Equifax. All three of them are supposed to provide you with a mailed copy of your report at no charge, if you ask for it. And, ask is what I did.
I sat and dialed. You can reach out and touch the Experian automated answering thingy at 800-311-4769. I found that phone maze was not too difficult to maneuver. You'll get a confirmation number, and I was told that my report would arrive in my snail-mail box within ten business days. Note: the "free" report is the basic report. The one that comes with a numeric representation of your credit score will cost you a few bucks, but the big thing that you are looking at, right now, is whether anyone is showing that you have a history of late payments (delinquencies), any collections (creditors to whom you still owe money), or any write-offs (companies that wrote off your debt as "uncollectible".) Whether you want to spend the money on the number score is up to you, and it would probably be a good idea to pay at least one of the three to give you a credit score.
With Experian down, I took another sip of coffee, and got right down to my next call. This was going to be easy...
Next up, Transunion. They are reachable at 800-916-8800. This was another easy phone maze to navigate. I got through that one, quickly, and the very polite, recorded voice at the end told me that my report would be there in six to eight days. Even faster than Experian. Whodathunkit?
Finally, with my Nutty Bars already gone, and my mission all but complete, I called Equifax...
Well, let me tell you, there just may be a special circle in hell reserved for those nice, nice people at Equifax...Now, I'm a fairly intelligent guy. I even have a Master's degree in education, so, at the very least, I'm no moron. Perhaps someone (maybe even someone from Equifax!) can tell me how my "free" report with Equifax ended up costing me eight dollars, then? No worries. I was on a mission for you. Besides, I knew that I could expense the eight bucks, anyway. So, here goes. Credit card number, check. Expiration date, check. Security code? Check. (These people REALLY want their eight dollars...)
Right after I successfully entered all of that information, they immediately transferred me to a man with a ridiculously thick accent. How would I like to sign up for the credit monitoring service? "No thanks. Can I, please, have my eight dollars credited back?" (Now, it was getting personal...)
"When you get your report, you can request your money back if it was charged to you, erroneously."
Sure. I'm betting that getting my money back will be a piece of cake...Regardless, it was worth the eight bucks to complain to you about this deceptive company. Mission accomplished.
But. I'm not. Quite. Done. There is one other important thing.
During my research, I had found a website, www.annualcreditreport.com that said you could get all of your free credit reports throught them. My fear was that this was one of those scam sites. (Think catchy, musical commercial with recurring characters offering "free" reports, as long as you sign up for their credit monitoring service...I'm sure those guys spend a lot of their time having cocktails with the Equifax guys...)
Amazing discovery: This site is actually the real deal. I logged on there and ordered all three of my reports without having to place a single phone call: it was all done online. (Nice!) And, two of the reports, Experian and Equifax, even allow you to print your report right then and there! The third, Transunion, is in the mail. Sweet! The drawback? It takes a while. Each of the three bureaus requires an authentication, then you go back to AnnualCreditReport and start on the next bureau...Time consuming, but well worth it.
Ok. That sums up my afternoon. Conclusion? DEFINITELY go to www.annualcreditreport.com where you won't need a credit card (because you pay NOTHING.) But, best of all, you won't have to worry about getting whacked for the eight bucks, submitting an expense report to the accounting department, and then explaining both to your boss and to all of your readers how you've been "had" by an automated phone system...
Disclosure: I don't really think that those Equifax people are hell-bound. It's just that to see a company that so clearly is trying to get you to make the wrong choice so that they can try and squeeze eight dollars out of you is dishonest, misleading, and, in this day and age, inexcusable. I'm sorry, but in my opinion, that behavior represents the very worst that businesses can be. My $.02.
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