Free Annual Credit Report
You are entitled to a Free Annual Credit Report (sometimes confused with Free Government Credit Report or FCRA Credit Report) from each of the 3 major credit bureaus as part of the 2003 FACT Act. You should take advantage of this privilege and order your free yearly credit report every year to monitor your credit history, check for errors and dispute them.Your credit reports and credit scores have huge impact over your financial and money matters.
They are used by lenders and credit companies to determine your credit worthiness. They are also used to determine the interest rate that you pay on your auto and home loans, credit cards and much more. Insurance companies, potential landlords and employers may also use this information to determine if you’re trustworthy and dependable.
It is therefore in your best interest to make sure that the information included in your file is complete and accurate, and does not contain incorrect bad information that can potentially deny you of credit, loan, renting a home or even getting a job, or otherwise cost you hundreds of dollars in higher interest rates.
The only way to make sure that this does not happen is to order your free annual credit report, thoroughly check it and dispute any information found to be incorrect, missing or incomplete.
How to Order Your Free Government Credit Report?
The 3 major credit bureaus have made it easy for you to ask for a copy of your free yearly credit report by setting up a central Free Annual Credit Report Request Service that process the requests for all the three free credit reports. Click here for more information.
In order to protect your privacy, you will be required to supply certain means of identification.
Why should you get all 3 free credit reports and not just one?
There are several reasons for why you need to get all three free credit reports:
- The three credit reports are not the same, and are independent of each other. Each credit bureau uses a different information and different sources. The three are never the same.
- Different lenders, credit companies, insurance companies, employers and other various financial institutions use one or more of these three credit reports at their discretion to determine your interest rates, lend you money, rent you a house etc. Since you have no control over which credit bureau they choose to use – it is necessary to make sure that all three are correct.
- While two of the reports may be correct, one credit report may include faulty information that needs to be corrected or your interest rates, ability to rent a home, secure a loan or even find job may suffer.
What to do if you find an error on one or more of my credit reports?
If you find error on one or more of your credit reports, it is imperative do dispute them. See credit report disputes for more information.
Can I obtain a free credit report more often?
Certain cases entitle you to additional free credit reports. For example, if you were declined credit, are unemployed and looking for a job, were a victim of identity theft and a few more cases. See how and when to get additional free credit report for more information.
Free Credit Report Watch-Outs
Numerous companies offer you “free credit report“, “free credit score” or “free credit monitoring“. These “free” services are not part of the FACT Act and are never free.
Usually, these sites sign you up for a supposedly “free” service that converts to one you have to pay for after a trial period. If you don’t cancel during the trial period, you may be unwittingly agreeing to let the company start charging fees to your credit card.
These services are absolutely unnecessary, and only benefit the companies that supply them.
just make sense – it makes Dollars!
For more information on ordering your Free Government Credit Report please read the following topics:
How to get a free annual credit report – vital information on how to order your free government credit report.
Additional Scenarios that entitle you to a free credit report – How to get free credit bureau report in addition to your annual credit report.
Acceptable forms of Identification – A brief discussions about protecting your privacy and what documents you need to supply in order to properly identify yourself.
Free Annual Credit Report Law – A summary of your rights under the FCRA credit report laws.
Free Annual Credit Score – Looking for your free FICO credit score but keep hitting a dead end? Read this!.