How Healthy Is Your Credit?

What are Instant Credit Reports and How Do You Get Them?

It’s important to check your credit report every year to help detect inaccuracies and watch for signs of identity theft. You can now get instant credit reports online thanks to the power of the internet. Each of the 3 major credit reporting bureaus can provide instant access to your credit report online. You can even view your credit report from each of the 3 bureaus instantly once per year through the annual credit report website.

What Type of Reports are Available Instantly?

There are a few different types of credit reports you can access instantly online. The type of report you should pull will depend on whether you are interested in your own personal credit history, your credit score, or the credit history of your business.

Consumer Credit Reports - Credit reports for consumers are handled by the 3 major credit reporting bureaus which are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. These credit reports will contain information regarding any credit cards, personal loans, car loans, mortgages or any other debt you may have. It will also contain information such as your most recent employers and mailing addresses. This is the type of credit report that is pulled when you apply with a lender.
Credit Score - Although the items on your credit report are generally used to compute your credit score, your credit report won’t typically have your credit score on it. You will have to pull a separate report to see what your credit score is with the major credit reporting bureaus. Most financial decisions you make will rely heavily on having a good credit score.
Business Credit Reports - Experian, Equifax and TransUnion also provide credit reports for businesses. You can use these to check up your own business credit history or to check up on the credit of a potential customer. Businesses also have credit scores although they are typically calculated a little differently than a consumer credit score.

How Can I Access my Instant Credit Reports?

The only way to access instant credit reports is to pull them up online. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act you are allowed one free instant credit report from each of the bureaus every year. You can pull these reports up through the Annual Credit Report website. To get your reports for free you will have to answer a few security questions to verify your identity. These questions are based on information contained on your credit report such as previous addresses and employers.

If you need to access you credit report instantly more than once per year you have a few options:

Credit Monitoring Services - For a low monthly fee many credit monitoring services will offer you unlimited instant access to your credit reports.
Pay Per Report - You can always pay every time you’d like to pull up your credit report to check on it. However, if you plan to do this often subscribing for a credit monitoring service may be cheaper in the long run.
Special Circumstances - If you’ve been turned down for credit you can request a free credit report from the bureau that provided the information which led to you being turned down. If you’re about to look for a job you can also get a free credit report once per year before your job search.

Add to:

Comments (0)

Name

E-mail (Will not appear online)

Homepage

Title

Comment

To prevent automated Bots form spamming, please enter the text you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.

3 Free Credit Scores
Daily Credit Monitoring and Alerts
Quarterly Credit Updates and Updated Scores
Protection Against Identity Theft and Fraud
7-Day Free Trial