Avoid the Free Credit Report Scams, it really is free.

Many of you have probably seen those so called "Free" credit reports all over television, the radio, and the Internet.

I can't believe how people fall for this scam. The 3 major credit bureaus offer a look at your credit report for free once per year.

Here is some great links--

First of all, our friends at the FTC have us covered. This page outlines what is a scam, and what isn't.

The only site that is free is annualcreditreport.com

The only hook is that you are only allowed to check your credit on the 3 major bureaus once every 12 months. What I do is check one bureau every 4 months using the annualcreditreport.com website.

When you get into the reports, here is what to expect. You will see a snapshot of all the credit that you have out. Every loan, every revolving credit account, every credit card, etc. You will also see a bunch of old accounts that you had closed, paid off, etc.

You will not see your actual credit score. They want a little under ten dollars to get your score. If you take a deep look at your credit snapshot, you won't need to pay the money, unless you really would like to.

I recommend that everyone has a good look at their credit, and figures out how they can improve their score.

I recently applied for a home mortgage, and wanted to make sure that my credit was in order before applying. Everything on the 3 major bureaus looked excellent. When I applied for the mortgage, the broker ran my credit. He came back with a score of 761. I'm pretty pleased with this score, but there is room for improvement.

The credit snapshot offers codes, or ways to improve your score. Mine was to "reduce debt on accounts." So basically I had to pay off my student loans..

Wish me luck!