Credit Scoring Resources
Credit Scoring Fast Facts
Surprising facts about the truth behind credit scoring from Texas Watch. Read More
Insurance Credit Scoring Guide
A Texas Watch guide to insurance credit scoring: what it is, how it’s used and how it impacts you. Read More
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
The FTC is a great resource for information on credit scoring and reports. Their main Credit Reports and Scoring page contains a number of informative reports, and they also have a “How to Dispute Credit Report Errors” fact sheet. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, you can call their toll-free number.
- Credit Reports and Scoring page
- How to Dispute Credit Report Errors fact sheet
- Toll Free Number:1-877-382-4357
The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI)
TDI has a Credit Information Resource page with useful information on credit scoring, legislatively-mandated studies, and a list of insurance companies in Texas that use credit information to help determine rates.
- Credit Information Resource Page
- Credit Scoring Impact Study
- List of insurance companies that use credit scoring
Consumer’s Union
Consumers Union’s Your Credit Matters page contains helpful information on how to obtain your credit report. The Credit Reports section on their Defend Your Dollars micro-site is also full of information on related policy and legislation, research and reports and other advice for consumers.
- Your Credit Matters
- Defend Your Dollars – Credit Reports section
- Insurancescored.com is a website created by a victim of insurance credit scoring that explains the practice and why it is bad for consumers.
How to Obtain Your Credit Report
It is important to make sure that the information contained in your credit report is correct since it is used to determine your final credit score.
As a result of the 2003 Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) passed by Congress, US consumers now have the right to request one free copy of their credit report a year from each credit reporting agency. There are a numbers of ways consumers can access this information.
- Online: Annualcreditreport.com is the ONLY official website on which to order your free credit reports. Many other similar-looking websites have sprung up that claim to offer these services. However, be wary of these sites, as some may trick you into signing up for a for-cost service.
- By phone: Call (877) 322-8228.
- By mail: Fill out the “Annual Credit Report Request Form” and mail it to:
Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
How to Obtain Your C.L.U.E Report
A personal property or auto C.L.U.E. (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange) report contains information provided by insurance companies on a consumer’s claims history and details about the covered property. It is used in insurance underwriting and rate setting. The report often contains errors, so it is important to make sure that yours is correct. You can order a copy of your C.L.U.E. report, which is free once a year as a result of the FACT Act.
Order a copy of your C.L.U.E. report
How to Purchase Your Credit Score
The credit reports discussed above do not contain your consumer credit score that lenders use to determine credit worthiness. To obtain your credit score, you must purchase it from the credit reporting agency. The websites for the three major agencies are:
All three websites also have a way to purchase all three companies’ credit scores at the same time.
- myfico.com, a website from the company that invented the FICO credit score, the credit scoring system used by the vast majority of lenders. On the website, you can purchase both TransUnion and Equifax credit scores.
