You get a free one each year...

http://www.ftc.gov/...edit/freereports.htm

http://www.myFico.com is better to but it costs $20 i think...

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Don't hold back

I use TrueCredit.com. For $29.95, it will give you your credit score as well as credit info from all three reporting bureaus. Although it's not the cheapest service around, I've found it easy to use and reliable.

Get one from each of the 3 major bureaus because they will all differ by as much as 30 or 40 points. Lenders normally take the middle score.

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"A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy."
John Sawhill

While others have pointed you in the right direction (myfico.com), you need to realize that FairIssacs, the developer of the software that deduces credit scores, primary customer is not the consumer but the lender who employess the software. As such, there are different scoring algorythms for different types of lending products - banks offering credit cards have a different set of criteria for credit scores than auto lenders or mortgage loans. Worse yet, credit scores are not really an assessment of credit worthiness but more like a method for lenders to determine profit and loss while weighing the risk of extending consumers credit. In that regard, there are a number of things that while part of a sound money management strategy such as not carrying balances on credit cards every month or being debt free will have a very adverse effect on credit ratings. Simply put, if a consumer does not use credit, how can a consumer be rated? I would suggest that download and read 'Understand Your FICO Score' (http://www.myfico.com/...ICO_UYFS_Booklet.pdf) and then visit the forums at http://www.creditinfocenter.com/

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Keep in mind every time your credit is checked, whether by you on one of these sites or a finance office at a car dealer or furniture store, etc. affects your score.

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Proud Founder of the Jamis Mafia- Daring to be different.

Is that true? I think if you are checking your own credit score that doesn't count as an inquiry.

I just read that individual inquiries do not count against you. What hurts is if there are several inquiries in a short period of time. That would look as though someone is trying to add a great deal of debt quickly.

I'm 99% sure that isn't true... When you go directly the big three for youre free annual report, they don't ding you for it...

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Don't hold back

Keep in mind that there are two types of credit history inquiries - hard and soft. Consumers can incur soft inquiries whenever they check their credit reports or when a credit card issuer runs a cursory check to get information to send you a credit card offer (you can opt out of that by the way). Hard inquiries are typically the result of loan applications (auto, home, personal) but these days can also be the result of shopping Gieco.com for a lower home or auto insurance rate. Fortunately inquiries, such as those generated while shopping for the most favorable interest rate for a home or auto purchase do not immediately hurt your score. FICO makes money by selling credit data to lenders so it would not help there profit and loss if consumers got dinged for shopping for competive loan rates but scoring models do expect consumers to make decissions within a relatively short period of time. Scoring models exempt credit inquiries of the same type incurred within the 14-day period prior to the most recent inquiry, so that each time you walk into a new car dealership or used car lot and the salesman asks for your drivers license to make a copy when he actually wants to run a credit inquiry, it will not adversely effect your score. On the other hand, if you are shopping for a new car at the same time as you are looking for a mortgage lender, those are two different types of credit inquiries and consumers typically might notice a bit of a penalty as far as credit scoring is concerned. Problem almost all lenders have some form of customized scoring model for the various lending products so having a 750 credit score from MyFICO.com does not guarantee a 750 credit score when borrowing money for an auto purchase, applying for a Mastercard or Visa from BankOne or Chase, or getting pre-approved for a home loan from Wells Fargo!

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