Hello all: I have been reading for months and am finally ready to start the process. I want to begin by thanking everyone involved in this site, as it has provided me with loads of info, and more importantly, the motivation to clear things up. I have received my reports from annualcreditreport.com, but they do not contain my scores. I understand that you have to pay for this information. My first question , assuming many more to follow, is: Should I pay for these scores? Can I receive them for free? and, Do they really matter? I Know what items on the report are negatively effecting my scores, and if so, why pay just to see the numbers. I figure I can worry about the actual numbers when i have a bit of success, if any. Please give me some advice. I have already opted out and do have the copies of the reports I mentioned above. Once I have some thoughts on this I plan on posting anonymous copies of the reports and explaining what I think I should attack first and then you all can set me straight on the strategy. Thank you all in advance for the help you will lend me.
Since you may be doing a lot with your credit you may want to sign up for a credit monitoring service that way you can be updated with each step of the way. TrueCredit is, I believe, 14.95/mth, and is fairly good at notifying you about inquires and alerts.
It's your call. There may be some use, however, in at least knowing about where you are starting from. The cost of scores is probably comparable to your mailing costs for sending several disputes CRRR. If you were getting ready to apply for a mortgage, you would want your scores. Similarly, if you wanted to show damage caused by an erroneous TL you were disputing, that you might be preparing to litigate, you might want your scores. If it doesn't affect any decision in the near term then as you suggest, you might wait until you have made some progress. (Maybe I sound like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. All directions are good. Just do something.)
How can you sleep at night not knowing what your score is?? Plus if you get your score now, in a year you can have bragging rights saying, "I went from a 520 to a 780 in a year!!" Good luck!
Ok, Well, thank you for your time. I will check out true credit and make a decision. Then I will get it all together and share.
