U.S. Govt. Stipulates Free Annual Credit Reports 404
alue writes "Under the terms of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act, passed last year, and amid growing concerns over privacy and disclosure of sensitive financial data, the three leading credit reporting agencies must provide consumers with a free summary once a year of all credit information on file for that person. Consumers in 13 Western states will be able to grab free online copies of their credit reports starting Wednesday."
Now my question is.. (Score:2, Interesting)
i mean it didnt take long for those free online credit reports to become "free" as in a "free ipod"
Re:Question: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Is once a year really enough to make a differen (Score:3, Interesting)
I suspect also that you are correct - now as it sits you can get a report for $5, (in my state) and then if you want your credit SCORE its another 5 dollars - so very likely they will cleverly market this to say something along the lines of "Your credit report is USELESS without a credit score! for only $5 we'll give you your credit score"
And you know how many people are going to take that option, i mean, it's only 5 bucks right? so the credit companies actually stand to make more money off of this deal, since more people will be interested in a free report, then once they are merketed to will realize that they absolutely MUST have their score as well.
Privacy policy (Score:3, Interesting)
note - not required to tell you FICO number (Score:3, Interesting)
Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax. the number ranges from around 500 to 850 and could be different from the three sources.
http://www.myfico.com/myFICO/FAQ/FICOScores.asp?f
Re:Now my question is.. (Score:3, Interesting)
What theses services mostly do is continually monitor your credit status and inform you as things change, this is thier special service.
I would guess that they continue the same routine since most people will not know that you can now get your credit report for free, same as is currently done with the states that already require this.
If it becomes widly know then expect that they will change to advertising it as a security feature and to watch for identity theft.
They won't show you your credit score (Score:3, Interesting)
From the FAQ
What is a credit score?
A credit score is a complex mathematical model that evaluates many types of information in a credit file. A credit score is used by a lender to help determine whether a person qualifies for a particular credit card, loan, or service. Most credit scores estimate the risk a company incurs by lending a person money or providing them with a service -- specifically, the likelihood that the person will make payments on time in the next two to three years. Generally, the higher the score, the less risk the person represents.
So, they'll send you the goods they have on you, but they won't tell you the very information that counts the most?!? Last time I got a credit report, it showed my score on it. Are they looking provide the "report" free, but make you pay for the score?
Free? (Score:2, Interesting)
Sorry I'm just a little skeptical when I see the word "free" used in such contexts.
Has anyone seen who is actually paying for this? Is it the credit agencies or the tax payers? Hafd dorf sokut timbre busket
Big deal (Score:5, Interesting)
In Norway, you get a (paper) copy of your credit report every time someone hires a company to make one. It's the law over here. It seems reasonable. You've actually had to pay for getting to know your own credit details? It's kind of funny.
Re:Question: (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd be willing to bet that the law could be worded such that any credit scoring company willing to partake of the government's big bucks would have to obey, or lose out to another company that will obey.
Now, if you wanted to be prissy about it, libel laws could have been amended to require that the credit reporting companies send copies of the reports every time its updated, or be faced with libel charges when an error is made. How would that be for within the bounds of Congress's power, or would you rather that companies be able to exercise the right to "free speech" as in telling random lies to destroy people's lives?
Re:Question: (Score:3, Interesting)
Credit card phishing, widescale identity theft, and the number of databases with personal information are increasing in numbers. 1 annual credit report is long overdue.
Legitamacy of the Damn Process (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't want a free credit report. I want accountability from three corrupt, incompetent, and powerful corporations.
How generous of the three credit reporting firms that we can see, for free, the information that they collect and profit from. The information that is used not only to decide on whether we can buy a home, but what our car insurance will be, whether we'd make a good employee, whether we can get a security clearance. Now we'll have the obligation to correct the errors made by others, at our expense. Let's Experien, TransAmerica, and Equifax off the hook.
So, your credit rating is now the measure of your worth. Now with laws regulating when we can see our report (for free), the government is giving further de facto authority to three private, profitable, and notoriously error prone organizations. These unregulated corporations that act in a quasi-governmental capacity expect us to be delighted that we can see our data once a year.
Of course, you still don't get to find out how the all important "Fair" Isaac number is computed. But that's another issue.
A question to ask one of the credit reporting firms is if you can be removed from their system. Say I don't want to use a credit card, or get a car loan. Why should my information be tracked? Why should these firms know who my employer is, what my salary is, my marital status? For God's sake, even if you wanted a car loan, why do they have access to so much information? Drop the damn "credit efficiency" argument and you have private agencies with enough data to ruin your life.
Somewhere along the line we've abandoned freedom and liberty for the sake of slightly lower prices, both on goods and loaned monies. I'd accept a higher interest rate to have some privacy.
Re:note - not required to tell you FICO number (Score:2, Interesting)
Additionally, there is a lot more in a credit report than just a score, however, most of the automated systems only trigger based on score values [of which, there are other various methods of calculation and proprietary scores than just the Fair Isaac].
Oh, and BTW, I am work as professional Credit Analyst.
Re:How is this modded up... (Score:5, Interesting)
I hate to tell you this, but your credit reports are already available on "a website".
One of many is TransUnion's TrueCredit [truecredit.com]. You can instantly get all three of your credit reports and scores, if you're willing to pay $35. Of course, you have to answer very specific questions that reasonably only you should know. No, not just things like your name and SSAN. But dates and times accounts were opened or closed. Addresses you might have lived at. And so on. It is considered a legally sufficient effort to establish your identity.
Currently, the law allows customers free access to their credit report from a credit reporting agency, but only if they have been turned down for credit, turned down for employment, etc., because of data contained in the report. There are also other convoluted ways to obtain a free credit report. Why should banks, employers, and other financial institutions be able to have access to your credit report virtually at will, when you - the consumer; the very person on whom the data is collected - cannot easily or inexpensively get routine access to your own reports??
The government's argument is that a consumer is entitled to access these reports for free, once a year. In a normal universe, this would be viewed as a good thing for the consumer, but in this crazy alternate reality some people live in now, it MUST be some kind of a neocon plot.
Be that as it may, many other countries impose legal requirements on credit reporting agencies to make their records available to the individuals concerned, and I see no reason why the US should be an exception.
The US is no exception. We've always had legal requirements surrounding the acquisition of credit reports, and still do. There is a level of muster that must be met for identification, distribution, and security. These reports are ALREADY DELIVERED ONLINE by all three agencies AND third party companies directly to the end customer. The information is already there and easily accessible. Additionally, there will no doubt be tracking to ensure each customer only obtains one report per year.
Is your assertion that now that there is a site that allows customers the right to view one free instance of their credit reports per year, that this system is somehow more prone to a large data collection conspiracy, even though the data has been collected and distributed in the same fashion for years?
I can't believe that this act actually does something GOOD for the consumer - something that customers can already do, but have to pay a virtual arm and leg for - and you twist it around into a conspiracy.
personal copyrights (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Big deal (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I just went through the process (Score:3, Interesting)
Scary thought: if you did have an error (identity theft, mistake, whatever) then you wouldn't be able to answer that question correctly. Then how would you go about proving yourself to them?
Gives a whole new meaning to "identity theft". I'd always thought of it as someone else copying your identity. But actually, you could lose your identity also. Yikes!