Trust me, I’ve been there.
When I bought my first car I didn’t have the greatest credit. It’s not that I had done anything wrong, it’s just that I was slow on building my credit. I was young and therefore had a short credit history which worked against me.
During my car shopping process several dealers were offering me twenty percent interest – which was insane! Luckily, I wasn’t that stupid and instead kept searching. I finally found a bank that gave me a 9.25% interest rate, but that was still fairly high compared to what was being offered at the time.
My car financing situation really helped me understand how important it is to monitor your credit score and keep it in good standing. So today, I wanted to go over four ways you can check your credit for free!
Credit Karma
Credit Karma is by far my very favorite free credit score checking site. You simply fill in your personal information (no credit card required), answer a couple of security questions and Credit Karma will pull up your credit score information.
They’ll also give you a credit report card with suggestions on how you can improve your score.
Credit Sesame
Credit Sesame works in a similar fashion as Credit Karma.
You simply input your personal information, answer security questions and they’ll pull up your credit score.
Quizzle
Quizzle is another free credit score site that works in the same way.
However, I’ve got to be completely honest with you – it’s my least favorite out of the three. It still has great features but I’m not a big fan of the layout and I had a hard time verifying my identity with them and couldn’t find anyone to contact about it.
AnnualCreditReport.com
Annual Credit Report is the site you can go to get a free credit report from the top three credit reporting bureaus.
Since you can get a total of three credit reports once per year I like to space mine out at every six months.
How are These Sites Free?
Getting a free annual credit report is nothing new. However, getting your credit score for free is. And since you’ve normally got to pay anywhere from fifteen to thirty dollars to get a credit score you might be skeptical of trying out these three places.
Don’t be.
Each of these sites (Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, and Quizzle) offer you credit card and loan deals based on your credit score. If you go through one of their offers to refinances your house, car, or get a new credit card they get a commission on the sale.
That’s how they make their money and that’s why you’re getting a free credit score!
Have you tried any of these sites? If so, which one is your favorite?