Verify the fees of the online site you are considering. TV advertising, by companies that offer a free credit report, is not cheap! Most of these sites give you only a glimpse of what you need and in order to obtain your three reports and scores they charge much more than $15.99.
The online site we recommend has scores fairly close to mortgage scores, you also have all three reports and three scores. This is a benefit if your goal is a mortgage loan, because you are only guessing when your scores are good enough to qualify and each time a lender pulls the scores there is an average 10 point ‘hit’ to the scores.
Also, you want an online reporting service that will let alert you if something new gets reported. You don’t want the surprise of new derogatory account(s) on your reports when the lender pulls them for your loan.