Free Identity theft protection and credit score (with no catch!!)

Credit card companies, banks and credit rating agencies sell identity protection, credit watch and credit score. They offer a 30-60 day free trial and after free trial period is over there is generally a monthly fee. It can be somewhere between $9.95-19.95 per month. This can end up costing you over $200 per year. If you want to find out your credit score credit agencies (such as myfico.com) sell it for $15 each time you want it.

According to Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) you are entitled to receive one free credit report every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. I generally recommend checking your credit file every 4 months (3 times a year once for each credit reporting companies). This free credit report can be requested through this website annualcreditreport.com, by phone or by mail. If you find any incorrect information on your credit file report it to respective reporting agency to fix it.

More information is available at

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/helpfaq#creditfile

As far as credit score is concerned you can check it free at creditkarma.com. It shows you percentile ranking nationwide and among your age group, what factors are making your score lower and what are making it higher.