Many people are confused about free FICO credit scores and reports. In general, when you heard about the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT) entitling every US citizen to free credit reports annually from the three credit bureaus Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, that is the credit report we are talking about. On the other hand, you have to pay for your FICA credit score and there is a difference between these two. It cost between $4 to $7 to get your credit score from the credit agency, depending on which one you request from. There are many companies that markets free FICO credit scores when you order a credit report from them. And that is where all the confusion begins. You end up paying for something that is free in the first place but get another non free item for free. Anyway, these free credit reporting companies are not exactly scam setups, they do provide add on services at a small price that are more convenient compared to you requesting for free credit report and paid credit scores from the credit bureaus directly. Kinda like the professional help you get when signing up as free debt consolidation leads to help with debt elimination. If all you need are free credit reports, then annualcreditreport.com is all you need three times a year. Since Experian, Equifax and TransUnion will provide a free credit report annually, you can divide 12 months by 3 and hence request one free credit report from a particular bureau every 4 months. Although the reports from different bureaus may not be exactly the same, there is actually no need to get all of them at the same time, unless you suspect that you are a victim of identity theft and someone else have chalked up a load of credit problems using your identity.

Anyway, when you want to request a second FICO credit report from any of these credit bureaus within the same year, you will have to start paying. To some people, this is a small price to pay as they are aggressively repairing their FICO credit scores in order to quickly qualify for low interest bad credit consolidation loans with higher than 700 FICO scores. If you are in their shoes and waiting for a loan to buy a new house for the family, you will not want to scrimp on the FICO credit report cost and wait for your free credit report entitlement next year.

When you are hiring FICO credit score providers to handle these on your behalf, you can use their in house reporting software and tools such as free sms alerts about changes in your FICO credit scores, discount information on eligible loans and credit card companies, etc. Most of the time, these companies make money by offering FICO credit restoration services while the credit score reporting functions are free benefits to bring in new customers and publicize their credit repair services.