You used to be able to get a free credit report and credit score from FreeCreditReport.com. Now, that same free credit report will cost you $1. FreeCreditReport.com says "Due to federally imposed restrictions it is no longer feasible for us to provide you with a free Experian credit report." That message is misleading and a person could easily think the Fed is making Experian (who owns FreeCreditReport.com) charge people for their credit report. That's not the case.
Part of the Credit CARD Act requires any company promoting a free credit report to let consumers know they can get free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com, the site that provides government-mandated free credit reports. Instead of complying with the requirement, sites like FreeCreditReport.com, have changed their offers so they don't have to let consumers know where the truly free credit reports really are. Television and radio free credit report ads need to have a similar disclosure in place by September 1, 2010.
When you order your $1 free credit report from FreeCreditReport.com, you'll still be enrolled in a trial subscription to Triple Advantage credit monitoring and you still have to cancel within 7 days to avoid being charged the monthly price of $14.95. FreeCreditReport.com says your $1 will be donated to charity.
CreditReport.com and FreeCredit.com, who also once offered a free credit report, have both changed their offers to a provide a free credit score. The Feds new rule doesn't require a disclosure for free credit score offers.
Again, the new law doesn't prohibit sites from offering a free credit report. It just requires sites to let consumers know they can get a free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com.
FICO has also discontinued it's free FICO score that had been offered with a trial subscription to their Score Watch service ($9.95 a month).
You can continue to get a free TransUnion-based credit score from CreditKarma.com.
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