The Easiest Way to Check Your Credit Reports

In dealing with this Wells Fargo letter we received, I decided to get our credit reports from all three credit bureaus, to dispute any application for credit the bank may have made for us, and to otherwise check for any errors.

I went to AnnualCreditReport.com, which all three bureaus direct you to, and which makes it look like you can easily request all three at once, online. That turned out not to be the case, as each bureau wanted different verification information, including account numbers to long-since-closed accounts.

I discovered that a faster way is to simply call this number (which is not the one listed on the site): 877-322-8228. By phone, the bureaus only want the usual verification information: name, address, SS#, date of birth, address. The reports will come by snail mail, but these are the kinds of things I want to look at on hard copy, anyway.

One more note: In a previous post, I advocated using the site MyFico, particularly if you wanted to see your FICO scores, the “gold standard” for lenders and the closest thing consumers have right now to an apples-to-apples comparison between the three credit bureaus. Experian has since quit using MyFico in favor of its own scoring system. What does this mean for us? It’s not good, as this report at credit.com makes clear:

Experian will continue to sell their PLUS and VantageScores to consumers through their various consumer websites but without the myFICO agreement, consumers will have no way of obtaining their FICO score based on Experian data.

At a time when Congress has called for more consumer protections (although not nearly enough) and more transparency, Experian is opting out.