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Is a Free Credit Score in Your Future?
Last week, Consumers Union (the Consumer Reports policy website), announced an initiative to create legislation requiring the credit bureaus to provide one free consumer credit score per year to American consumers.
The website notes the success in lobbying for free consumer Credit Reports, the result of which is that currently consumers may request a free copy of their Credit Report per year, from each of the 3 major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). Consumers can request a single credit report at a time (staggered across the year), or all 3 at once, by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com. But Consumers Union, like most industry watchdog groups, understands that simply knowing what's in your credit report is not enough to accurately interpret what your score might be. Thus, they are starting a campaign to make the credit bureaus provide valuable Credit Scores (for free) along with your Free Credit Report.
From the Consumers Union website:
"Consumers won the right to a free copy of their credit reports nearly a decade ago by bombarding Congress with hundreds of thousands of messages. Now, it’s time you have the right to Free Credit Scores! Your credit score is incredibly important to your financial future. Each of us is assigned a score by credit reporting companies based on our credit reports. That score can determine whether you can buy a home, the interest rates on your Credit Cards, or what your Car Insurance will cost. Right now you can get a free credit report from a trusted website AnnualCreditReport.com, to help you track your finances and spot problems you might not know exist. But you typically can’t get your score for free. You might pay fees, hand over your Credit Card for sketchy “trial offers,” or buy credit scores that some lenders may not even use. The three major credit reporting agencies that give us free credit reports can simply give us our credible and trustworthy free scores at the same time. But it will take pressure on federal policymakers to make that happen. Let your leaders know you want to Know Your Score!"
Consumers may write to their representatives individually, or use a pre-written message from the Consumers Union website, here.
What do you think about Consumers Union lobbying efforts to provide free credit scores? Will the Consumer Reports name and widespread appeal boost the chances that a Free Credit Score might be in everyone's future?
