You know those free credit report offers that you have heard on the radio and seen on television (not to mention all over the internet). The one where you get a FREE copy of you credit report with "NO OBLIGATION". Well, before you order a copy of your "FREE" credit report, you should be aware of the following:

Free Credit Report offers are not always free. In some cases your credit card is charged up to $89.95 (or $12.95 per month) for a credit monitoring service that you must purchase in order to get your "free" credit report.

The so called "free" credit report offer only comes from ONE of the three national credit bureaus. Since over 70% of all credit reports contain errors, you want to make sure all three national credit bureaus are reporting your information accurately, especially when shopping for a home or major purchase. Lenders will often check your credit report and scores from all three national credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).

Not too surprising, nearly all of the "free" offers are from one of multiple sub-companies that are actually owned by the three national credit bureaus! While most of us have resigned ourselves to the fact that the credit bureaus know much more about our personal lives then we want, we still don't have to like it. The bureaus know this as well, which is why they try to sell their services under different company names.

Now, before you accept one of those "free" credit report offers be prepared to provide the company with your credit card number that they will use to automatically charge you year after year unless you remember to cancel.