Free Credit Report, But No Free Credit Score

Most people have heard of the Fair Credit Reporting Act which entitles consumers to a free copy of their credit report once every 12 months from each of the three credit bureaus. However, many may not realize that their free credit report doesn’t come with a credit score.

If you order a free credit report from Annualcreditreport.com you will indeed receive a free credit report complete with your current liabilities, past payment history, employment information, and more. What you won’t receive is a credit score.

While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it is misleading when a large number of consumers order a free credit report from the credit bureaus in the hopes of finding out their credit score, only to be told that the credit report doesn’t contain a credit score, and that they’ll need to call a number to request the credit score for a fee.

While this may seem disheartening, the good news is that the free credit report sent by the bureau of your choice will contain a ton of useful information that you can review to ensure there aren’t any unknown derogatory accounts, collections, or worse yet, fraud on your credit profile. The bad news is that you’ll need to shell out some cash or try one of the free trial credit monitoring programs to actually receive your credit score.

Don’t get me wrong. The free credit report from the credit bureaus is a great way to monitor your credit and make sure everything is in line. It’s still a useful free service, but don’t expect any bells and whistles. Of course everyone wants to see how they add up in the form of a three-digit number, but you can learn a lot from the report itself, and if you learn more about credit, you’ll be able to gauge what your credit score might be without actually seeing it.

I do recommend that you order a free credit report from each bureau once a year just to err on the side of caution. After all, you could have collection accounts or fraudulent activity on your credit profile without ever knowing it. And any serious damage to your credit score can have lasting impressions.

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5. Free Credit Report vs. Credit Monitoring