Your rights under the FACT ACT

I just thought I would mention this regarding the FACT act. By law, you are entitled to a credit report at no charge from any major credit reporting agency. As of this year they are experian, transunion, and equifax. Your credit report lists all of the credit you have had for up to 7 years (I am not quite clear, but it appears the report may contain information older than 7 years but it cannot be included in your score), including payments for each month, delinquencies or late payments, defaults, debts that have gone to collections, inquiries into your credit file, etc.

This is not your score. Your score is a number that these agencies calculate based on the information in your report. Though the act did force the credit agencies to make our score available, it is not available for free. The price seems to vary amongst the agencies, and none of them make it easy or clear just how you are to order your score. It is possible you can only do so in writing or by phone, since their website does not provide any option.

Your credit report will not include your credit score, unless you order it extra through annualcreditreport.com. Note that annualcreditreport.com is the only site where you can obtain your free credit report, period.