Learn me on credit scores and reports

Submitted by trevorlawrence on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 10:07
Forums

Hi All,

From an ousiders persepective, the whole credit score industry looks like spam to me. If you click the wrong button you accidentally sign up for a reacurring charge that monitors your credit score ... if you check too many times it lowers your score, etc.

So what I want is the cheapest and smartest way to know what my actual score is, and to view one or all of my credit reports. I am looking to spend between nothing and $15 if possible. In the past I have done the free credit report thing but I know that it does not give any scores. I also think I have used a lot more credit cards since then so I would like to see if there is more activity either positive or negative.

The motivation is that I am about to finish the whole college thing and I will probably have to get my first apartment with out a cosigner and possibly a car loan.

Thanks for the help.

Bonus question, if my girlfriend has horrible credit, how will that affect us getting an apartment together?

Thanks,
Trevor.

Hi Trevor,

Credit report is available for free once a year from www.annualcreditreport.com . However, till now there is no such way to obtain an absolutely free credit score. There are various sites that offer free credit score, but their reliability is doubtful. Along with the request for free credit report, you can purchase free credit score from www.annualcreditreport.com .

As far as I understand if your girlfriend has bad credit, you can try to get the apartment alone.

Tue, 02/23/2010 - 11:32 Permalink

Go to fair isaac for a real FICO, not all the FAKO scores out there. Your credit union might let you apply for a car loan and this would give you a real score. This would also give you an inquiry.

Tue, 02/23/2010 - 11:40 Permalink