Best Way to See Credit Score?

[Tetris]

I'm planning to go to L school in Fall of 2008 and I want to do some financial planning so I can get decent loans to pay for it.  A good place to start would be to see a credit report... I was wondering if anyone could tell me where to get a good credit report/ credit score.  Do banks do this for free?  For a nominal charge?  Any help would be appreciated.  I'm not very financially savvy.... so excuse my ineptitude.  Thanks.

[katluva33]

You can get one free report per year from each of the three major credit bureaus (www.annualcreditreport.com).  You can also pay fees of 5-10 dollars to see them.  Or you can pay about $10/month to FICO (www.myfico.com) to monitor your report.

[Tetris]

Thanks a lot   Sort of a rip off that you need to pay $10 to see your actual score... but at least my report doesnt have any negatives so it can't be that low.

[shawsama]

I use bank of america, and they had a credit report monitoring program w/ a 30 day trial.

naturally, I signed up for it and cancelled before the trial ended

[dcforlife]

Keep in mind that credit scores are different among the three credit bureaus, and there's a secondary credit numbering system coming online (VantageScore) as well. It's worthwhile to cough up the dough for all three at least once.

[parischic]

A great place to start with credit questions is www.creditboards.com/forums.  I was amazed by how much I didn't know about my credit and credit reports!!

For your question about reports/scores, every year you can get a free credit report directly from each of the agencies
www.equifax.com
www.experian.com
www.transunion.com

Also, once you get your free credit report, you can use that report confirmation # to initiate credit disputes and reporting agency has to give you an updated report with the results of your dispute.  Then you can use that new confirm # to dispute, get another free report...its a nice circle (especially when you get baddies deleted from your report!!)

To get your true credit score either purchase them directly from the agencies with your report or go to www.myfico.com and purchase the 3 agency report/score.  This link has myfico discounts (go to the last page to find the valid discount code).  http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30893.  

The other credit monitoring companies give updated credit reports, but "FAKO" scores, which can vary between 30-100 points from your FICO score.  TrueCredit.com for example gives you a daily FAKO score and credit report, which is good for monitoring your credit activity and for inquiry *B (bumping inquiries from your credit report to help raise your score, one of the easiest ways to get a few free points after a credit app spree!)

CHeers!!

[naturallybeyoutiful]

tag

[Edna St. Vincent Millay]

tag. thanks, parischic!

[SugarJ]

tagggg 

[parischic]

tag. thanks, parischic!

you're welcome .  If anyone has credit repair questions, I can try and share some of the things I've learned through my experience.

Cheers!