Order a Free Credit Report Long Before Searching for a Mortgage

If you’re thinking about buying a new home, or refinancing your current mortgage, don’t let another day go by without pulling your credit report.

Organizing your credit profile is probably the most important aspect of the lending process, and one that cannot be taken for granted. If you fail to prepare now, you could lose thousands of dollars in interest charges per year, or get denied financing altogether.

And the more time you waste, the less time you’ll have to make any last minute credit repairs or adjustments to raise your credit score.

You’ve probably thought about ordering a credit report, but didn’t like the offers out there, or perhaps were confused about how it all works? Either way, with a little research you can find a reputable credit score provider or credit monitoring program quite easily, and make sense of it all by reading my accompanying piece, how to read a credit report.

While choosing a free credit report from the government is usually a good option for basic credit monitoring, these types of credit reports don’t contain a credit score and probably won’t be detailed enough to guarantee your credit is positioned to receive the best interest rate on your new mortgage.

Because your credit score is largely what drives your mortgage approval, I would recommend a tri-merge credit report from freecreditreport.com, an Experian company. It provides credit scores from the three major credit bureaus, and carries a 30-day money back free trial. Not to mention it’s owned by one of the three major credit bureaus.

I initially chose this program myself because it offered the 30-day free trial, so after quickly checking my credit score, I canceled within 30 days at no cost.

*Please note that if you do not cancel within 30 days you will be enrolled in a recurring monthly credit monitoring program which carries a monthly fee, something that really isn’t worth paying for unless you’re doing intensive credit repair, or resolving credit theft issues.

While there are similar programs out there that offer a tri-merge credit report with a free 30 day trial, make sure you use a well-known, reputable company, and make sure they provide all three bureaus scores. A single credit score will likely come cheaper, but the other two bureaus may be reporting different data which could drive your median credit score down significantly.

Regardless of which free credit report service you choose, make sure you order the free credit report several months before the mortgage process begins or you could find yourself in a real tough spot.