STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

CarrieS · Marc Jacobs

Credit reports

luckylily · Gucci

Under a new law, you can get a free credit report each year. I don't think your actual score is free, but you can get a copy of the report from any of the three services.

www.annualcreditreport.com

crystal · Kate Spade

yep, LL is right! check out that site & only pay for you FICO score cuz that's the only one anyone important (car dealers, apartment owners, etc.) looks at. that should only be around $5 and i've done those 30 day free reports before & it's totally fine, u just cancel b4 the 30 days (it's the same report for 30 days so u can print it out & cancel the next day if u like). HTH!

CarrieS · Marc Jacobs

Just went to that site and I remembered I had been there before, but there's a problem with it: It says the midwest reports aren't available until March 1, so I'm outta luck until then. But I will be checking back.

Thanks girls!

lsubatgirl · Gucci

You really should check your credit report once a year to make sure there are no discrepancies and each reporting company is different and has a different number for you. While it does stink that you have to pay a total of $30 to get your score it will really help you if you need to buy a house, a car, or apply for credit because you will know before you waste the time and effort if you will get accepted or rejected and you can work on improving your score accordingly.

jah · Dooney & Bourke

If you go to the fico website www.myfico.com you can get all three of your scores at once. In terms of the free reports, those are rolling out through the country slowly, so depending on what state you live in it may or may not be available now.

gruiz · Kenneth Cole

From personal experience, I would order all THREE credit reports. Especially if you're doing something big like buying a house. They're all supposed to contain the same information, but often contain many differences and mistakes.