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[sb92075]

I suspect that most folks reading this forum know that everyone can get a FREE copy
of their credit report annually from each of the BIG 3. The approach my wife & I take
is to do 1 review in January, another in May, & the last 1 in September.
This way we never  have more than 4 months between reviews.

Today, I happened to do my annual review from Experian.

FWIW - PMI pulled mine on 10/21 & 11/30 but neither is visible to external pulls.


OK, I couldn't stand this misspelled topic header anymore. I edited it to add the missing "d": HollowOak

[HollowOak]

What might be helpful is to tell folks where to get said free credit report and not fall for one of the "free" scams where you get charged after 30 days:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

[traveler505]

For more frequent (but less detailed) monitoring:

Washington Mutual credit card holders get free TransUnion FICO scores once a month.  (This is known as PFICO, since itwas originally offered by Providian before WaMu acquired it.  It is a true FICO score customized for credit card grantors.)

Prosper members can get an Experian ScoreX once a month by startig the process of posting a listing.

[NewHorizon]

Washington Mutual credit card holders get free TransUnion FICO scores once a month.

The first score is available after your first month as a WaMu credit card holder.
Some folks may not want to wait that long.  But the WaMu site does chart the score's ups and downs over time starting with the first score received via the WaMu site.

[Tokyo Joe]

Washington Mutual credit card holders get free TransUnion FICO scores once a month.

The first score is available after your first month as a WaMu credit card holder.
Some folks may not want to wait that long.  But the WaMu site does chart the score's ups and downs over time starting with the first score received via the WaMu site.

I have a WaMu card, and I love the credit page.  I get my FICO score, a Scorex-type box of data (open lines, derogs, inqs, etc.), and explanations of why the score has gone up or down.

For the longest time, the idiot in me never bothered checking my score.  I figured, as long as I'm paying my bills, how bad can it be?  I'm glad WaMu shares this info; it turned out I was missing opportunities because I carried too much debt every month, which dragged me down into the 680's at one point.  Seeing it all there right in front of me got my ass in gear, and I wiped out that debt.  It sure was fun to get a "FICO alert" in the mail, telling me there had been dramatic one-month movement (up) in the score... 

[Mark12547]

I suspect that most folks reading this forum know that everyone can get a FREE copy
of their credit report annually from each of the BIG 3. The approach my wife & I take
is to do 1 review in January, another in May, & the last 1 in September.
This way we never  have more than 4 months between reviews.

I have added ChexSystems to my annual pulls, so I have 3 months between reviews (though if all is well ChexSystems says they have no activity for me). I usually follow this link and put FACTA Report as the reason I am requesting a report: https://www.consumerdebit.com/consumerinfo/us/en/freereport.htm

[mhs505]

I have added ChexSystems to my annual pulls, so I have 3 months between reviews (though if all is well ChexSystems says they have no activity for me). I usually follow this link and put FACTA Report as the reason I am requesting a report: https://www.consumerdebit.com/consumerinfo/us/en/freereport.htm

Thanks Mark!!  I never knew you could check that. 

[PLP]

I pulled my credit report from experian and noticed that my birthday and a name are incorrect, so I clicked on the items to dispute them.  When I submit the dispute, I receive the following error message on my BIRTHDATE and NAME:

The address in question was reported by your creditors or potential creditors or obtained from public records. If incorrect you may want to contact the source of the information directly. If you need additional information, call us for assistance.

So it does not seem to allow me to dispute this incorrect information with experian and it gives me no indication how I might contact the source of the information directly.  Any ideas what to do? 

Thanks!

[traveler505]

I pulled my credit report from experian and noticed that my birthday and a name are incorrect, so I clicked on the items to dispute them.  When I submit the dispute, I receive the following error message on my BIRTHDATE and NAME:

The address in question was reported by your creditors or potential creditors or obtained from public records. If incorrect you may want to contact the source of the information directly. If you need additional information, call us for assistance.

So it does not seem to allow me to dispute this incorrect information with experian and it gives me no indication how I might contact the source of the information directly.  Any ideas what to do? 

Thanks!

I would suggest mailing a letter by certified mail - return receipt requested.  When I started repairing my credit, several (perhaps all) of the CRAs had multiple names, SSNs, and perhaps DOBs for me; I was able to get them to remove the incorrect ones.

Experian considers addresses to be historical information, not credit information, and frequently refuses to delete inaccurate information.   (The only method that seems to work for bad addresses with EX is going through them, one by one on the phone with a CSR.)  It appears that this attitude has spread to name and DOB on the website.

[Fred93]

Experian considers addresses to be historical information, not credit information, and frequently refuses to delete inaccurate information. 

I had a bogus address pop up on my Experian report.  I wrote them a letter saying I had nothing to do with that address, and they removed it.

[PatriotLender]

I pulled my credit report from experian and noticed that my birthday and a name are incorrect, so I clicked on the items to dispute them.  When I submit the dispute, I receive the following error message on my BIRTHDATE and NAME:

The address in question was reported by your creditors or potential creditors or obtained from public records. If incorrect you may want to contact the source of the information directly. If you need additional information, call us for assistance.

So it does not seem to allow me to dispute this incorrect information with experian and it gives me no indication how I might contact the source of the information directly.  Any ideas what to do? 

Thanks!

I've called the bureaus (soonafter pulling a report) and had stuff like this manually deleted over the phone by speaking with a rep.

[PLP]

Thanks for the advice. I will give it a go...

By the way, the one item it did let me dispute (a bad phone number)  has already been taken care of. 

[otacon]

At one time, one of the credit agencies combined my street address with some other town (Possibly the address of a creditor).  Made it really hard to answer the question about where you live . 

Another time, I had one of those questionnaires where they wanted specific account info, and the only way I could answer them was to pull out an existing copy of the report (no, I do not know the account number of the car loan I had 6 years ago! nor the bogus address mentioned above).

Sigh.

I've just frozen all three credit reports.  This is something new -- for a cheap price ($5 in Mass), you can put a freeze on your report, keeping it out of the hands of any creditors unless you explicitly unfreeze it.  They mail you a password you need to have to unlock it.  Since I don't plan on borrowing in the foreseeable future, it seems like a good idea.  You can find the link on the agency web pages, along with all the info.

otacon

[Cheerful_Lender]

I have a WaMu card, and I love the credit page.  I get my FICO score, a Scorex-type box of data (open lines, derogs, inqs, etc.), and explanations of why the score has gone up or down.

For the longest time, the idiot in me never bothered checking my score.  I figured, as long as I'm paying my bills, how bad can it be?  I'm glad WaMu shares this info; it turned out I was missing opportunities because I carried too much debt every month, which dragged me down into the 680's at one point.  Seeing it all there right in front of me got my ass in gear, and I wiped out that debt.  It sure was fun to get a "FICO alert" in the mail, telling me there had been dramatic one-month movement (up) in the score... 

I watch my WAMU credit score monthly and I love it as well!  It's so much fun to do something positive for my score and watch the score rise in the following month or 2.  I hadn't really considered this as a motivating factor for raising my score, but it perhaps has influenced me to some degree. 

I am also motivated to see if a 850 score is in fact achievable... I suppose I'll find out in the far off distant future when my mortgage is acquired then paid off.  **I'm in the 820s now and I've never had a mortgage.