You can already get 3 free credit reports a year, but getting free credit scores hasn’t always been easy.
Speaking of the 3 free credit reports, I was talking it over with Ungsunghero and Derek and it appears they’re both smarter than me about it. Every year I would get all 3 of my credit reports at the same time to see if there’s any problems in any one of the credit bureaus, but the real smart way to do it is to get them separately. That way you can get updated credit reports every 4 months instead of once a year. I now have appointments scheduled in Outlook to remind me to get my credit reports from a particular credit bureau every 4 months.
Anyway, back to the free monthly credit score. WaMu (Washington Mutual) has been offer credit cards that come with free monthly credit score updates as a bonus feature if you have their card. The feature’s rather nice and doesn’t have any fees or require any monthly purchases. Once you log in and click on “FICO Credit Score”, you’ll be shown your score along with other data such as Accounts, Open Accounts, Closed Accounts, Inquiries, Derogatory Items, Delinquencies, and Total Revolving Balances. You can also see the history of your credit score for up to a year.
You can apply for the WaMu Platinum MasterCard online.
I have actually tried applying for this card for a total of 3x, being rejected twice initially. They always mail me a postcard apologizing for rejecting my application and that if I had any questions, to contact them. However since I never really needed the credit card, it wasn’t one of my priorities to get this straightened out. However, I decided I really wanted to see what my credit score was and called up WaMu and asked them why I was rejected. Unfortunately my previous request was over 60 days old so no information is available. I went ahead and reapplied and this time I was instantaneously accepted. No idea why, but I’m not complaining.
One thing I do dislike about their website is the fact that they’re like American Express and limits your password to be 6-8 characters.
HI , i had a Wamu credit card for over a year and the credit reporting worked really nice. Though they only provided updates from one agency (transunion) and not all three of them, which it gets updated every third week of the mo. However WAMU has been acquired by Chase and as of March 09 my account has been transferred to Chase where i do not see such benefit, did i just loose it? I haven’t called Chase yet to see if this benefit has been cancelled, if so i may cancel this credit card since it has a high APR rate. Do you have any info about this situation and what it can be done to get it corrected? thanks. Steve.
Yes, in a recent letter you received from Chase, they mentioned that credit score benefit is going away. There’s a thread over on SlickDeals if you want to check it out: FREE FICO from WAMU CC going away