You are about to discover what 99% of people don't know about Credit Reports and Credit Scores....
Most people confuse official "FICO Credit Scores" with "Credit Scores" that are usually advertised for sale by many companies. This is done on purpose by a number of vendors to confuse you. (if they were not trying to confuse you, why would they use the same exact same numbering system as the FICO Credit Scoring system?)
Remember this - only MyFico.Com and Equifax.Com sell official "FICO Credit Scores", the scores 90% of all lenders use - directly to consumers. These are the only Credit Scores you should care about. (and pay for!)
For this reason, we recommend you only use MyFico.Com or Equifax.Com. to get your current Credit Reports and FICO Credit Scores, so you know exactly how lenders see you and you will never get surprised by your real Credit Scores when banks and other financial companies ask for your FICO Credit Score.
What about the Government Free Credit Report Offer?
Insider Tip: We don't like the free Credit Report offer from the government and the 3 Credit Agencies for these two reasons:
First - When you order your Credit Report from the Annual Credit Report website, you give permission to the credit agencies to take 45 days to validate any dispute rather than the standard 30 days. This gives the credit agencies extra time to research items you are disputing - we would rather give them less time than more.
Second - The second reason is that you won't get a FICO Credit Score, only your raw Credit Reports - which by themselves are not that helpful. (no analysis, no credit score, no monitoring of changes, etc.)
Instead, we recommend ordering the Equifax Credit Watch Gold service, and simply cancelling within 30 days. This way you will still preserve the 30 days dispute limit, view all three credit reports, and get a real FICO Credit Score - all for free.
As an alternative, you can also order the MyFico.Com Score Watch product. The only difference between the two products is thatEquifax Credit Watch Gold gives you all three credit reports, while the MyFico.Com Score Watch product only gives you one credit report (from Equifax). However, MyFico.Com Score Watch is cheaper if you are looking to save some money, but again only provides one credit report vs. all three from Equifax Credit Watch Gold
Both products are free for 30 days, so there is no risk if you don't like the services they provide. Either way you will see your credit report and real FICO credit score.
Again, make sure you choose a provider that will give you a real FICO credit score and not an estimated credit score!
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MyFico.Com ScoreWatch is also the cheapest solution ($8.99/ Month) out of all the major products we compared, and it includes your actual FICO Score! Many products charge much more per month and include an "Estimated Credit Score" instead.
You also get credit monitoring, so after you run you initial Credit Report you can see changes to your report on a weekly basis. These changes include anything that has affecting your credit report, and you get an updated FICO Score based on those changes. For example, if you found inaccurate information on your Credit Report, and disputed it and got it removed, you would get an alert from MyFico.Com that the item was removed AND get your new updated FICO Score.
When you sign up, you get one free Credit Report right away, and another during the year. Because you are getting alerts to changes weekly there is no reason to pay for new reports every month.
The only negative is that MyFico.Com Score Watch does not come with ID Theft Insurance. Although we would have liked to have seen this as part of the package, we don't think it's that important to pay much more money per month for. If you want a more complete package, you should get Equifax Gold Credit Monitoring Service.
Definitions of Terms Used:
Free Trial Days - Number of days of free access before monthly fee gets charged
Number of Credit Reports - There are three main Credit Reporting agencies, this tells you how many Credit Reports you will see
Number of Credit Scores - Since there are three Credit Agencies, you also have unique Credit Scores from each Credit Reporting agency.
True "FICO" Credit Scores - FICO Credit Scores are used by 90% of all lenders and was developed by the Fair Isaac Corporation. You can only get your FICO Credit Scores from either MyFico.com or Equifax. All other Credit Scores are only estimates of your actual FICO Scores.
Identity Theft Coverage - This is how much insurance protection you will receive in case you become a victim of ID theft while using Credit Monitoring service.
Unlimited Credit Reports and Scores Monthly - Some Credit Monitoring Agencies allow you to run your Credit Report as much as you want to.
Credit Monitoring - This is service which looks at your Credit Report every business day and alerts you of anything new that may have been added or changed. For example new credit cards being opened, late pays, etc.
Credit Monitoring Agencies - Since there are three Credit Agencies, it is best to get credit monitoring that covers all three agencies. This will alert if anything is affecting your Credit Report