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Free Credit Reports This month, thirteen western states go live with the offer of free credit reports. The other three quarters of the nation will be added in segments over the next year with the mid-Atlantic states finally being added on September 1, 2006.
With all due respect to the idea of making money, the major players in this sector, Equifax, Experion, and TransUnion could quite possibly have stepped over the line. The previous law allowed you access to a free report if you were denied credit. The new law, the result of the huge wave of refinancing that has taken place over the last few years, allows future borrowers to check - and hopefully repair - their reports before they apply for the loan.
But here is where the new law goes awry:
Equifax offers a slightly different service. They will give you the elusive credit score that lenders use to determine not only creditworthiness but ability to pay and the rate of interest. This subscription based service will cost you $6.95.
TransUnion offers an basket of services surrounding the word free - which is for a free credit score - that can cost as much as $29.95. And speaking of identity theft, this will, without a doubt open a whole new sector of e-mail fraud offering reports in exchange for sensitive information.
There is only one site that offers this report without costs and without strings.
P.O.Box 105281 Atlanta, Georgia 30348-5281 1-877-322-8228 Rest assured, consumer advocates have approved this site. It offers three reports at once should you be making a major purchase from the major sites or you can receive them at various times throughout the year if you are monitoring identity theft. Either way, the information you provide is not sold.
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