Because like many other people I'm thinking about re-financing my home, I decided to get the "free" credit report that I'm ENTITLED TO. After all, it's MY information, right?
Using a link in an article on the CNN page, I went through the process of getting my free credit report from the big three credit companies, TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. You can order a report from each company, but you must register separately for each.
I'm only part of the way through the process for TransUnion, and ALREADY I find that to get a USEFUL report I will have to pay $7.95 in order to find out my CREDIT SCORE. Wait a minute? Isn't that part of my credit report? Apparently not. This tiny number, which I NEED to know, the ONE number that REALLY tells me where I stand, a number that requires NO effort on TransUnion's part to provide to me, is dangled in front of my face like a doggy treat - making me beg for MY OWN INFORMATION.
Is the credit score only a semi-useful OPTION, not really a necessary part of a credit report? No. It is not. To use TransUnion's own words, cut and pasted from their page..."Your credit score is an essential part of your finances."
That's right folks, an ESSENTIAL part of MY FINANCES.
So basically, TransUnion admits that they are giving me a crippled version of my credit report, and only by paying extra can I get the information I really need. It's like buying a car, then finding out that the KEY that starts the car costs extra for all the heavy lifting involved in handing it to me.
I am going to pay the $7.95 for MY information, because the free report I am entitled to by law is useless without it. HOWEVER I am filing this complaint, and will do so for each of the other two companies if I should find that they also stoop so low as TransUnion.
Your free credit report is NOT FREE!
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