A credit report is information detailing a person's payment history, accounts, balances and payment behavior for each account. It includes a person's residential information, how he pays his bills and whether he has ever been sued, arrested or filed for bankruptcy. It is used to provide information to calculate the credit score or FICO, the three-digit gauge of one's creditworthiness. This is then used as reference by creditors, lenders and insurance companies.
Credit Reporting Companies
By law the only authorized source for a free annual credit report is AnnualCreditReport.com. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) allows a person to access his credit report for free once a year from the three nationwide credit reporting companies: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. The consumer must request the credit report as they are not sent automatically. If a person has been denied a loan, insurance policy or a job because of a poor credit score, then he can apply for a free credit report. Also, those applying for unemployment or who receive public assistance are entitled to a free credit report. States that offer free credit reports from each credit-reporting agency are Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey and Vermont.
Requesting Reports
The consumer should not contact the three nationwide consumer reporting companies individually. Go to AnnualCreditReport.com to access the credit report online. To access it via phone, call (877) 322-8228. Alternatively, order or print a brochure from the Federal Trade Commission and complete a form at the back of it. The consumer then mails it to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. To get the free report, the consumer should give her name, address, Social Security Number, date of birth and previous address if she has moved in the last two years. For security purposes, she will be asked to give some information that she only is privy to, like her monthly mortgage payment. The questions vary depending on the company.
Online Fraud
The Federal Trade Commission advises consumers against paying for free credit reports. The three reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, are accessed by AnnualCreditReport.com without charge. The rest are fraudulent and charge for the "free" report by charging for other services on their website. Others steer the consumer into a for-profit marketing enterprise, according to a World Privacy Forum in-depth investigation and report.
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