Are Free Credit Reports Really Free Or Are They Just Another Scam?
The economy isn't in the best of shapes and hasn't been for a couple of years now
and many of us who have never had to deal with debt previously are now doing so, and many of us for the first time. This is un-chartered territory for many and knowing how to start addressing and correcting personal finances can be confusing.
The first step anyone should take is to find out the actual status of their credit and to do this they will need a copy of their credit report from each of the three credit bureaus; Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
Can you get free credit reports?
Not everyone is aware of this but every single US citizen is entitled to a free credit report from each of the three bureaus every 12 months, the reason many people are not aware of this is that the government and consumer councils will not spend money to advertise this fact.
Unfortunately, this is why many companies will try to take advantage of this lack of public awareness. You may well have seen or heard advertisements on everything from local radio to the internet about how you can receive free credit reports; but just because these ads repetitively mention that the credit reports are free it doesn't necessarily mean that they are!
In a large number of cases, once these companies are approached, they will ask you to make some kind of purchase or sign up to a third party credit repair or monitoring service before they will release your free credit reports.
Does this mean that your free credit reports actually come at a cost?
Of course it does! However, that isn't to say that some of these products or services that are being offered are not worth considering as some of them have an excellent success rate at improving credit.
Whether the company is offering an excellent service or not; they are certainly taking advantage of a situation; to say they are scamming people would be harsh, but they are certainly utilizing the general lack of knowledge about what you are entitled to for free.