KrisL1

If I wanted to view my own credit report (Scores) will this have any affect on my overall credit score? Also if anyone views their own scores which website would you recomend to view?

sir_eccles

annualcreditreport.com is the one and only place to get your report for free.

You can get your report for free from each of the big three agencies once a year through this site. Many people get their report from one of them every four months, rather than getting all three at the same time.

It does not have any effect on your score.

You generally have to pay to get your score.

If a mortgage broker runs your credit they are obliged to give you a copy of your score.

paulpur

also, in addition to the good info Sir Eccles gave, i believe that if anyone refuses you credit , they have to specify the reason and also which reporting agency they used and also your credit score i believe

KrisL1

Thank you for the information and help it is appreciated.

sir_eccles

Yes something like that.

The only reason I mentioned mortgages is that as far as I know that is the only real instance where the score is that important as it will pretty much decide your interest rate. In most other instances the history or rather LENGTH of credit history is much more important.

RayM

I thought I would check my score. I've been here 3 months and have a credit card (BoA) and a SSN. I've tried a few of the "free" agencies but get nothing from them, I seem to fail their identity check. I tried annualcreditreport.com but can't get anything from there either. It ask for your address and if you haven't been there for 2 years asks for your previous address but will only accept a US address.
Do you have to wait 2 years before you can check your credit score?

cranston

When I first got my report I told them we had been at our current address for 2 years even tough we had only been in the US a month.

You can get fake Ficos from creditkarma.com and creditseasme.com.

Bob

3 Months?

That was a waste of time. Nothing will get reported till the 6 month mark in all honesty and even then, it's meaningless. It's only after the 12 month mark that it starts to mean anything.

You can get your score pretty easily, but dinging it to find it won't help you out much either as it's a negative ding.

Though as mentioned, the score really isn't that important for pretty much anything at this point.

RayM

I tried the creditkarma site mentioned above. That tells me I have a credit score of 756 with TransRisk new account score provided by TransUnion. It also shows the credit card that I have and the outstanding balance.

Dan725

I also use creditkarma.com - while the exact scores are "fake" as it only pulls from Transunion Vantagescore, at least it gives you a good running commentary about how you are doing in general and I find it to be near enough to keeps tabs on what is going on - and its free.

whatadiva

creditkarma.com has a great deal right now. sign up with no credit card details.

fatbrit

All this obsession with a score that means nothing to you unless you're a loan officer or underwriter.

Use the free, government mandated, report to get a report every 4 months from one of the agencies in order to check the information is correct and there has been no suspicious activity on your account.

Follow best practices for establishing and increasing your credit. You can play endlessly with the fico estimator to discover the consequences of your actions.

Although dated, there are some more hints here.

Don't waste your money on garbage sites that sell you your own information and which will not help you at all.

jamiedan

If you take out a secured credit card with Capital One they give you a complimentary subscription to Credit Inform Premier which tracks your credit score.

I'd suggest its worth it for anyone coming to the States. Think it was $39. I have a credit limit of $200 of which its suggested you don't spend over 25% so I spend no more than $50 a month. They report to the three main credit rating companies.

I have to say that I was fortunate in that I had an American Express Card in the UK and I was able to transfer it over here. A Gold rewards card straight away. We moved here in August and according to CreditInform, my credit score is already at 710.

Hope that helps.

Bob

But again, without a varied, US history, that score alone is worth as much as my toe fluff.

As is all those various credit check type things you can join.

Dan725

Agreed on the first bit. The reason I like creditkarma is not so much for the score....its more the fact you can keep a monthly check on hard credit inquiries etc so you can guard yourself against possible ID theft - and with creditkarma it is totally free, unlike all the rest of those credit monitoring services, especially that totally bullshit "Freecreditreport.com" where its anything but free.