Get a Free Credit Report Without a Credit Card

In today's economy there is much talk over lowering interest rates , refinancing of homes, and credit ratings. Most haven't checked their credit score or credit rating to find out where they are in the bargaining for better rates. Some have been unable to find out the information because of a lack of credit card ownership. Well there is a way to get credit reports free and without a credit card.

Personal Credit Ratings

There is not a global factor to personal credit ratings ; there are different credit rating systems depending on where an individual is located. It is these personal credit ratings that will be pulled when there is the issue of whether to extend credit to the individual. There is also some that will use credit ratings to declare "worthiness" to rent an apartment or even for some jobs. There are several things that can alter a person's credit rating.

• Their debt to loan ratio - This tells the ability to pay a loan and the amount of credit already used.
• Spending patterns - This tells the agency whether they are consistently late on payments and whether they typically use the credit as needed.
• Credit profile - This shows whether the applicant has too much of one type of credit (i.e. revolving like a store card or collateral debt like a mortgage .)

These are some of the things that credit reporting agency will look at in determining the credit score listed on the report.

Who Are the Credit Reporting Agencies

There are three of the credit reporting agencies that can have credit reports requested. These are part of the FTC's (Federal Trade Commission's) Sept 1, 2005 law entitling everyone to a free credit report a year from each of these three companies. Those companies are Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax. Spreading out requests between the three companies over the course of the year is best, rather than sending off for all three at once. Remember that if there is an error in one, it may not be in all of them, but still needs to be cleared up ASAP.

Free Credit Report Without a Credit Card Needed

Individuals are able to get a free credit report from the FTC official website of annualcreditreport.com . Others may be similar to this, but they can be scams or "free trials" in programs designed to milk bank accounts of funds. The Annual Credit Report website is the only one from the FTC for free credit reports. They only allow access to the report once a year. When the annual credit report is received, download it and save it to a computer or flash drive. That way there is year round access to the copy, as there may not be access to it online after that initial inquiry.

Free Quicken Credit Report without a Credit Card Needed

There is a free credit report that is offered along with what is called a "Quizzle Score" on Quizzle.com. This is from Quicken, completely free and without the use of a credit card, and reputable. This, some say, is even better than normal credit reports because there is a full snapshot of debt and one's financial place in this world. There are many that are quite pleased with this website's "big picture" view of finances.

Log out completely once the report has been run and wipe cookies and cache files from the computer. This can cut down on any unauthorized use or identity theft. A personal credit report is something that is very important in everything, keep it safe.

6-17-09 this article appeared on Suite 101.