Buying the credit scores lenders use -
Liz Weston, Los Angeles Times
Dear Liz: I got my credit reports from http://www.annualcreditreport.com
as you recommended in a recent column, but had to go through some hoops
to get my actual credit score, which is the main thing I wanted. One of
the bureaus required me to subscribe to its newsletter, which cost
$29.95 a month after a seven-day free trial. I guess they hope people
won't cancel within seven days, but I did, without any trouble.
Answer:
Confusion about the difference between credit reports and credit scores
often leads people to sign up for unnecessary, costly products. (You
were signing up for credit monitoring, by the way, not a newsletter.)
You can get free credit scores from a variety of sites, including
Credit.com, Credit Karma and Quizzle, without having to buy a product.
The scores you get from these sites aren't the scores that lenders
typically use, but neither is the score the credit bureau provided you.
If you want to see scores lenders usually use, you'll need to buy those
for $20 apiece from MyFico.com.
Questions may be sent to Liz Weston, 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA 91604, or by using the "Contact" form at asklizweston.com. Distributed by No More Red Inc.
