Credit Report Sites

You’re only as valuable as your credit. Ever had that thrown in your grill? Doesn’t feel good, does it? What are we, walking bags of bones, numbers, cogs in the system? Well yes, but we’re also lovely folks, people with feelings and much more to add on this great green planet than simply helping the machine to keep chugging along.

But alas, with the exception of very few, we all need credit at some point in time. And if you can’t repay said credit accordingly, look out! The blacklist awaits and nobody wants to be on the credit blacklist, least of all you. In the early days of credit reporting, the whole operation was much more collaborative in nature. Companies would share information surrounding borrowers in the attempts to attain as much information as possible at reasonable cost. Retailers for example would bond together to keep track of customers in a given town. This worked well and by the start of the 1980s companies had full reports on borrowers and potential borrowers (names, addresses, social security numbers, bankruptcies, liens, judgements, etc.). Anything and everything that could help in assessing risk when it came to extending a new loan was on the table.

Competition grew fiercer over time as more people took on credit. Big players like Experian, TransUnion and Equifax are giants in the credit reporting game. In fact, you have a right to receive one credit report every 12 months for free from one of the three. It is not overly extensive, but it does give someone a broad overview of his or her individual situation. Depending on the length of your specific history, the report can easily stretch over a dozen pages. This is why it is only a summarized version. If you want some more meaty versions a proper credit report site is where it’s at.

Credit Karma is one of the best overall sites for credit monitoring. Because it has partnered with TransUnion and Equifax, not only can you get your free report through Credit Karma, your information is updated once per week which is why it is by far the best credit monitor out there, for now. Another cool option with Credit Karma is you can also get loan and credit card offers as well (based of course on your credit standing). NerdWallet is just like it doesn’t sound – easy. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out. NerdWallet continuously receives the best reviews in terms of ease in signing up. Credit reports are also refreshed frequently with NerdWallet and if you have a Google account, signing up is an absolute snap. Their mobile app is also quite popular as well.

And last but not least, myBankrate. Say it a couple times, it’s super catchy. A fan favorite with myBankrate is it will lay out your credit report information chronologically. This means you can see in real-time how your credit report is changing over time. Obviously keying in on the trouble areas is where you can make the biggest impact and this is honestly a service that few offer outside of myBankrate. Perhaps this post will change that for the good.

You are more than your credit, we know. But it’s also sort of important, so get a handle on it and try out one of these services. After all, the major report is free!