2017 RANKING & REVIEWS
TOP RATED CREDIT REPORT SITES
Finding the Best Credit Report Site
Nowadays, credit is used for everything imaginable. Whether you want to purchase a car or a new home, you will need to show a bank what your credit score is. However, not many people know the best way to check a credit score.
Free credit report reviews are available on a number of websites. The vast majority of these websites provide credit reports free of charge. That means that if someone is trying to get you to pay for a credit report, then it may not be the best credit report site out there.
Award Emblem: Top 7 Best Credit Report Sites
Credit is something that is linked to you and only you. That means that with your credit information, someone may be able to commit fraud under your name. Because of this concern, you should only trust your credit information to reputable websites. AdvisoryHQ has compiled a list of the 7 best free credit report sites for you to start your research.
AdvisoryHQ’s List of Top 7 Best Credit Report Sites
List is sorted alphabetically (click any of the names below to go directly to the detailed review section for that advisor):
See Also: Is Credit Karma Really Free? Facts About Credit Karma’s Free Report
What Is a Credit Score?
Credit scores are three-digit numbers that range anywhere from 300 to 850. The higher the credit score, the better it is. A lower credit score typically means that you are not a trustworthy lender. People with lower credit scores may have a difficult time getting new lines of credit.
There are a few different criteria that go into computing your credit score. Your credit score depends on:
- Payment history. This is the most important aspect in calculating your credit score. If you make payments on time, you will have a much higher credit score than if you miss payments. Having a credit account go into delinquency will cause your credit to plummet because it will ruin your payment history.
- Amounts owed. The amount that you owe on your credit accounts vs. how much credit you are given plays a big role in determining your credit score. The best way to improve your credit score is to have a low amount owed on your credit accounts. Paying off your credit cards at the end of every month will improve your credit score immensely.
Image Source: Best Credit Report Sites
- Length of credit history. Your credit will only improve with the longer that you have had a credit history. Someone opening a new credit account will have a lower credit score than someone who has had a credit account for the past ten years. The best way to build a credit score is to open an account and use it regularly. An unused credit account will not count in this category.
- Types of credit used. There are different types of credit out there. There are revolving accounts, such as credit cards, and installment accounts, such as car or home loans. The revolving accounts are looked at differently from installment accounts. Having too many or too few revolving accounts might ding your credit score.
- New credit. Before you can open a new credit account, a lender will perform a hard credit check. This means that they will run your credit report and find out what your credit score is. This will bring your credit score down because it appears that you are trying to open new lines of credit. Try to keep the number of inquiries down to prevent a ding to your credit score.
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Selection Methodology
What methodology does AdvisoryHQ use in selecting and finalizing the firms, services, and products that are ranked on its various top-rated lists?
Please click here “AdvisoryHQ’s Ranking Methodologies” for a detailed review of AdvisoryHQ’s selection methodologies for ranking top-rated firms, products, and services.
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Detailed Review—Top Ranking Best Free Credit Report Sites
Below, please find the detailed review of each firm on our list of the best free credit report sites. We have highlighted some of the factors that allowed these best credit report sites to score so high in our selection ranking.
Experian Review
Experian is an website that specializes in providing credit scores to its clients. Experian employs more than 17,000 people in 37 countries around the globe. Their headquarters are located in Dublin, Ireland, but they have a large presence in other countries like the United States.
Key Factors That Enabled This Website to Rank as a Best Credit Report Site
Below are the primary reasons we selected Experian to be rated as one of 2016’s best free credit report sites.
Credit Report Monitoring
Experian will monitor your credit report daily. This means that you have unlimited access to your credit report. The credit report that Experian provides daily is always up to date because it gets updated every twelve to twenty-four hours! Experian is one of the best free credit report sites, because they make credit report monitoring a breeze.
Identify Theft Protection
According to Experian, up to 12 million Americans get their identity stolen every year. This means that someone could ruin your credit score overnight by taking out fraudulent accounts under your name.
Identity theft protection is one of the major reasons that Experian gets so many positive free credit score reviews. They monitor your Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion credit reports daily for anything strange. If something strange does come up on their radar, they will have one of their fraud resolution professionals get in touch with you.
Not only do they monitor your credit reports, but they also monitor if someone changes your address. A change of address that you did not authorize could mean that someone is attempting to steal your identity. In most cases, thieves begin by attempting to change an address before trying to open a new line of credit. By offering so many different perks for identify theft protection, Experian is one of the best credit report sites out there right now.
Related: Experian Reviews—What Is Experian? What You Need to Know (How to Read & Get a Free Credit Report & Review)
Identity Guard Review
Identity Guard is a credit protection company that specializes in keeping your identity safe. Identity Guard is one of the best credit report sites, and they are provided by a company that has been around since 1996. Thus far, they have protected the identities of more than 47 million people.
Identity guard offers basic credit reports, credit scores, credit monitoring, and identity protection. Although they are known for their identity protection, they are still the number one go-to for many people to check credit scores.
Key Factors That Led Us to Rank This Business as a Best Credit Report Site
After narrowing down the significant list, the below factors represent what we find notable about Identity Guard, one of the best credit report sites.
Peace of Mind
How many of us shop online, visit the doctor’s office, or carry a wallet around? Probably just about everyone does at least one thing from that list! That’s just a small list of activities that could put you at risk for identity theft. Identity Guard has positive credit report reviews because they keep you safe as you go through regular day-to-day activities.
Not only does Identity Guard offer an identity theft protection service, but they also offer suggestions on how to keep your identity from being stolen in the first place. By following these simple steps, you can help keep yourself safe.
Innovative Technology
Identity Guard uses the most advanced credit monitoring technology out on the market to help keep your identity safe. They are considered one of the best credit report sites, because they constantly monitor for certain activity that could indicate identity misuse. They never take a break from checking if you have any alarming information pop up on your credit record.
AnnualCreditReport.com Review
One of the best free credit report sites is AnnualCreditReport.com. AnnualCreditReport.com provides you the means to check your credit reports for free. Many websites require some form of payment to check your official credit report. By asking AnnualCreditReport.com for your credit report, you will see the same credit report that lenders see.
Key Factors That Enabled This Website to Rank as a Best Credit Report Site
While it was difficult to narrow down, below are some of the deciding factors that allowed AnnualCreditReport.com to be rated as one of our best free credit report sites.
Time Saver
Most people are unaware that they are able to get up to three credit reports a year. AnnualCreditReport.com gets positive credit report reviews because they offer a convenient service for getting all three credit reports at the same time. Instead of going to three different websites to get the credit reports, you can get them all through AnnualCreditReport.com.
AnnualCreditReport.com is a best free credit report site because it is sponsored by Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. These three credit reporting agencies are the companies that hand out everyone’s credit score. Each person is entitled one credit report from each company once a year. AnnualCreditReport.com helps you get your credit report from each of these agencies.
Free of Charge
One of the best features about AnnualCreditReport.com is that it is 100% completely free. People like not having to pay for a service, because, after all, the best things in life are free. That is why AnnualCreditReport.com tends to have glowing free credit score reviews on the Internet.
You are welcome to use AnnualCreditReport.com every year without paying. Most websites offer a free trial to use their website, but AnnualCreditReport.com does not operate like that. AnnualCreditReport.com lets you use their website free of charge for as many years as you wish.
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Ovation Review
Ovation is a credit reporting website that offers many different customizable credit report programs. Ovation offers credit reports and helps you to dispute questionable items on your credit report.
They will guide you through the process of filing credit report disputes if you are one of their customers. Not only will they report a dispute, but they will also monitor your credit carefully in the future to make sure that it does not happen again. This top-notch service is definitely what has everyone raving about Ovation.
Key Factors That Allowed This Website to Rank as a Best Credit Report Site
Below are some key features to give you an idea of what we used to rate Ovation as one of the best credit report sites.
Founded by Lawyers
Ovation was originally founded by lawyers who wanted to assist their clients in repairing their credit reports. The founders were tired of watching people come into their office with credit issues that could have been easily avoided.
The founder of Ovation, Terry Cordell, is an outstanding lawyer in his field. Through his work in creating Ovation, Terry Cordell has helped tens of thousands of people in repairing their credit. Any lawyer worth their salt knows the law inside and out. Terry Cordell has used his knowledge of the law to help all of the clients at Ovation repair their credit.
Easy as 1, 2, 3, 4
Ovation is the best way to check a credit score, because they make it a fast and easy process. Through Ovation, all you have to do is sign up and select one of their two plans. Both of their plans, Essentials and Essentials Plus, are customizable depending on what specific options you want.
Next, you send in your Experian report so that they can start monitoring your credit. Ovation has access to your TransUnion and Equifax reports, but they need you to send in your Experian report.
Finally, you can log in and activate the dispute manager. The dispute manager will ask you some questions about your credit report and help get your account set up. After finishing the dispute manager, you will be all set to go with Ovation!
Read More: Consumer Credit Counseling Service—What You Should Know Before Using Them
myFICO Review
One of the best ways to check a credit score is at myFICO. The website myFICO is a allows you to access your FICO scores. These are the same FICO scores that are used by mortgage, auto, and credit card lending companies to determine if they should lend to you. Many people think that mortgage companies, auto loan dealers, and credit cards only use credit scores to determine if they should work with you. But in reality, they also use the FICO score.
Image Source: Best Free Credit Report Sites
Key Factors That Enabled Us to Rank This Website as a Best Credit Report Site
Below are some of the elements we found compelling enough about myFICO to name it one of this year’s best free credit report sites.
Lots of Variety
myFICO has three different packages that you can choose from for your credit scores. You can choose from the FICO Essentials 1B, the FICO Ultimate 3B, or the FICO Score 3B Report.
myFICO is one of the best credit report sites because it offers plans for every kind of individual. The FICO Essentials 1B plan is the cheapest plan that myFICO offers. The FICO Essentials 1B will allow you access to 9 FICO scores and offer a variety of other benefits.
The FICO Ultimate 3B is their most complete plan which offers access to 28 FICO Scores. The FICO Score 3B Report gives you access to only the 28 FICO Scores and does not give you access to all the bells and whistles that FICO Ultimate 3B offers.
Savings Center
myFICO has nothing but positive free credit report reviews, because it has a savings center aimed directly at helping its customers. The savings center has a ton of information on credit cards, mortgages, saving accounts, auto insurance, and personal loans.
myFICO lets you apply different search criteria to find the right line of credit for you. For example, you can search credit cards by entering in your FICO score. Only credit cards that accept your FICO score will show up. This way, you can narrow down what your options are if you are looking to open a new line of credit.
This service is available for everyone, not only myFICO members! You can go here and start by entering in your information.
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Credit Karma Review
Credit Karma is a free website where you can get your credit reports. Credit Karma offers both the TransUnion and the Equifax credit scores. They also offer suggestions on how to improve your credit scores and breakdowns of what exactly is impacting your scores. Knowing which areas they are struggling in will help to improve their credit scores.
Key Factors That Enabled Us to Rank This Firm as a Best Credit Report Site
Below are some of the most significant reasons we selected Credit Karma as one of year’s best free credit report site.
Unlimited Access
Credit Karma gives you, the consumer, unlimited access to your credit scores. Your credit scores are updated every seven days on Credit Karma. This is one reason we ranked Credit Karma as one of the best free credit report sites. Even though Credit Karma does not update scores daily, you will still have access to your credit score at any time.
Your credit scores with TransUnion and Equifax are automatically displayed and recalculated every time that you enter the website. This ensures that you have the most up-to-date credit scores available when you visit Credit Karma.
Easy Sign Up
Signing up with Credit Karma takes, at the most, two minutes. This means that you will not waste precious time out of your day when you check your credit scores. Checking your credit scores should not be a hassle. Credit Karma makes it as easy possible to check your credit scores.
It’s Totally Free!
Credit Karma does not charge any fees for using their service. This makes them one of the best free credit report sites within this article.
Credit Karma is ideal for both short-term and long-term monitoring. Individuals who want to monitor their credit scores in the short term do not want to pay an outrageous price for their credit score. Similarly, someone monitoring their credit score in the long term does not want to keep shelling out money.
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Quizzle Review
Quizzle is a totally website where consumers can get their credit scores. Quizzle was created in 2008, and they have helped more than 2 million people in the past eight years. That’s a huge number for a company just starting out.
According to Quizzle, 25% of people have never checked their credit report. Quizzle wants to change that by making the process of checking your credit reports as easy as pie.
Key Factors That Enabled Us to Rank This Website as a Best Credit Report Site
Below are some of the most significant reasons we selected Quizzle as one of this year’s best credit report sites.
Safe, Secure, and Simple
Quizzle has some of the most top notch website security. They have firewalls, encryption services, and a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). This prevents any thieves from getting ahold of your financial information.
Quizzle is also an incredibly simple website to use. They ask you a handful of sign-up questions, which you can complete in less than two minutes. It does not get simpler than that. You do not have to send in any information or offer any sensitive financial information. At the most, they will require your name and your email address.
No Credit Card Required
The best way to check a credit score for you could be through Quizzle because they will never ask for your credit card information. Quizzle is completely free to use, and they will not try to swindle you out of your hard-earned money.
All of their services are free of charge, and can be used once every three months. Your credit score will update every three months with TransUnion, and Quizzle will give you the new updated score as soon as it is in.
Conclusion—Best Credit Report Sites
Keeping a regular eye on your credit can save you a lot of trouble down the line. This means that you have to get into the habit of checking your credit score. If you use one of the best credit report sites listed in this article, you will be able to check your credit score day or night.
This can offer you peace of mind, because you will not have to worry about what factors are directly influencing your credit score. The best way to check a credit score is by going onto a secure website, and checking it at least once a month! Checking a credit score once a month will make sure that any dings on your credit report are caught swiftly.
AdvisoryHQ (AHQ) Disclaimer:
Reasonable efforts have been made by AdvisoryHQ to present accurate information, however all info is presented without warranty. Review AdvisoryHQ’s Terms for details. Also review each firm’s site for the most updated data, rates and info.
Note: Firms and products, including the one(s) reviewed above, may be AdvisoryHQ's affiliates. Click to view AdvisoryHQ's advertiser disclosures.
