Credit reports contain crucial information about your financial history, including the amount of debt you've accrued, the types of credit you've taken out (such as student loans, home mortgages or credit cards) and how recently you've sought new credit. Your credit report also contains information about your payment history, such as whether you make on-time payments, skip payments, pay only the minimum amount or pay your balance in full each month. Reviewing your credit report annually is a key step toward maintaining financial health; obtaining a copy is easy and free.
Purpose
Credit reports don't just assemble facts and figures associated with your financial past and present; they paint a picture for lenders, landlords and potential employers about the riskiness of engaging in business with you. Negative marks from collection agencies, bankruptcies or other unsavory information could result in being denied for a loan or being passed over for an apartment or job. Reviewing your annual credit report allows you to identify and correct inaccurate information that could be sending the wrong message to lenders. It can also help you spotlight when identity thieves have accessed your credit to open fraudulent accounts.
Government-Sanctioned
The federal government authorizes free annual access of credit reports from each of the three main credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Government laws don't guarantee free access of credit scores, however. After receiving your free annual credit report, the bureaus may offer to share your credit score for a fee. Free yearly credit reports are securely available through a website (see Resources).
Process
Consumers can request free annual credit reports by phone, by mail and online. By phone, call 1-877-322-8228.To request a report by mail, visit the Annual Credit Report website (see Resources) to download and print a request form. Mail the completed form to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. Free reports will arrive in two to three weeks. Alternatively, visit the website to complete the online credit report request form and receive results immediately.
Timing
You may decide to order your annual credit reports from all three bureaus at the same time. Because bureaus rely on different sources for your financial information, and your financial information may be reported to the bureaus at different times, your annual report may vary from agency to agency. If you'd like, order your free annual credit report from one bureau every four months for a year-round view of your report; this reduces the chances that inaccurate or fraudulent information will linger on your report all year.
Scams
Some companies will attempt to trick consumers into signing up for a "free" annual credit report, but charge fees for memberships or credit monitoring services. These scams may model their website after the genuine website, so the safest way to access your free annual credit report is to type of paste the website link directly into your browser.
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