I have never checked my credit report or credit score manually so to speak.

I don't suspect any fraud or such, just curious.

What is the best way to do this?

Use credit karma or some such service or do I just approach the big three myself?

Obviously, I don't want to hurt my credit by checking and investigating.

Thanks in advance.

I can do that for you - just post your full name, address and SSN

Don't you have a credit card or bank that offers your credit score as a benefit of your account? I have access to my credit score on several accounts I have.

The actual credit report will require another service. I have identity protection service that offers a credit report annually.

I signed up (free) for credit karma years ago and it's been a good source for that and free alerting of stuff.

My bank as well as several of my credit cards offer a link to check my score.

quote:

Don't you have a credit card or bank that offers your credit score as a benefit of your account? I have access to my credit score on several accounts I have.

So do I, as well as my bank (credit union) account. You are entitled by law to a report (but without a score) from annualcreditreport.com. "Soft" inquiries like this don't mess with your score to the best of my knowledge.

Yeah, many banks/cc companies now offer free credit score for their customers.
For free credit report, https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

credit karma is free & you can get monthly updates....i've been using it for years.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: airbubba,

Be aware that your “scores” from the big three will not be the same, may vary wildly, and are not your actual scores that lenders will calculate for the most part.

-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Yeah, many banks/cc companies now offer free credit score for their customers.
For free credit report, https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

^^This is the correct answer.
In addition to checking the info and on the same site, put a credit freeze on your file. Also free and can be easily temporarily unfrozen if you need to apply for any new accounts.
Once it's frozen, no need to pay for any of the credit monitoring services.

Credit Karma smartphone app.

I check mine once a year or so and it doesn't affect your score.

Just to echo, both my Amex and Capital One cards offer the service for free as does my mortgage holder, all 3 are simple to access through their apps.

Those free scores are not your same scores when you go to borrow.

They use a different algorithm than the paid scores.

There are also different scores for different types of borrowing.

Mortgage, car loan and credit cards are some of the most common. The scores should be in the same ballpark but not the same.

The three major credit bureaus, Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax all have different systems and can be very different scores from each other.

You can check your score with each of the three credit bureaus once a year for free. It's been a while so I don't remember how exactly but I would go to their website and go through the process.

Each will be slightly different so check each one.

I think one of my credit cards tells me.
For the free annual credit reports, I don’t do them all at one. I fo a different one every three to four months so I can see how things are changing.

Sure, free scores differ among the Big Three (Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union) and are different when you go to borrow. But, they do give you a good idea of your credit worthiness. Your free score of, say, 600 will not suddenly magically turn you into a high score, whatever that is, when you go to borrow.