How do I get my free credit report?

[MrsPinecone]

As of September 1, 2005, in all 50 states, you are entitled to a free credit report once a year from each of the credit reporting agencies. The web address to obtain them is: www.annualcreditreport.com.

If you find an inaccuracy with one credit reporting company, you may want to get your credit report from the other two agencies to see if their reports contain the same error. After you've corrected an error with one agency, the other agencies should eventually receive the corrected information. But for prompt correction, it's best to contact each of the three agencies individually yourself:

Equifax 1-800-685-1111
Experian 1-888-397-3742
TransUnion 1-800-916-8800
__________________________________________________ _______________

A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) promotes the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of consumer reporting agencies. There are many types of consumer reporting agencies, including credit bureaus and specialty agencies (such as agencies that sell information about check writing histories, medical records, and rental history records). Here is a summary of your major rights under the FCRA. For more information, including information about additional rights, go to www.ftc.gov/credit or write to: Consumer Response Center, Room 130-A, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.

• You must be told if information in your file has been used against you. Anyone who uses a credit report or another type of consumer report to deny your application for credit, insurance, or employment - or to take another adverse action against you - must tell you, and must give you the name, address, and phone number of the agency that provided the information.
• You have the right to know what is in your file. You may request and obtain all the information about you in the files of a consumer reporting agency (your "file disclosure"). You will be required to provide proper identification, which may include your Social Security number. In many cases, the disclosure will be free. You are entitled to a free file disclosure if:
  • a person has taken adverse action against you because of information in your credit report;
  • you are the victim of identify theft and place a fraud alert in your file;
  • your file contains inaccurate information as a result of fraud;
  • you are on public assistance;
  • you are unemployed but expect to apply for employment within 60 days. In addition, by September 2005 all consumers will be entitled to one free disclosure every 12 months upon request from each nationwide credit bureau and from nationwide specialty consumer reporting agencies. See www.ftc.gov/credit for additional information.
• You have the right to ask for a credit score. Credit scores are numerical summaries of your credit-worthiness based on information from credit bureaus. You may request a credit score from consumer reporting agencies that create scores or distribute scores used in residential real property loans, but you will have to pay for it. In some mortgage transactions, you will receive credit score information for free from the mortgage lender.
• You have the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. If you identify information in your file that is incomplete or inaccurate, and report it to the consumer reporting agency, the agency must investigate unless your dispute is frivolous. See www.ftc.gov/credit for an explanation of dispute procedures.
• Consumer reporting agencies must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information. Inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable information must be removed or corrected, usually within 30 days. However, a consumer reporting agency may continue to report information it has verified as accurate.
• Consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information. In most cases, a consumer reporting agency may not report negative information that is more than seven years old, or bankruptcies that are more than 10 years old.
• Access to your file is limited. A consumer reporting agency may provide information about you only to people with a valid need -- usually to consider an application with a creditor, insurer, employer, landlord, or other business. The FCRA specifies those with a valid need for access.
• You must give your consent for reports to be provided to employers. A consumer reporting agency may not give out information about you to your employer, or a potential employer, without your written consent given to the employer. Written consent generally is not required in the trucking industry. For more information, go to www.ftc.gov/credit.
• You may limit "prescreened" offers of credit and insurance you get based on information in your credit report. Unsolicited "prescreened" offers for credit and insurance must include a toll-free phone number you can call if you choose to remove your name and address from the lists these offers are based on. You may opt-out with the nationwide credit bureaus at 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688) .
• You may seek damages from violators. If a consumer reporting agency, or, in some cases, a user of consumer reports or a furnisher of information to a consumer reporting agency violates the FCRA, you may be able to sue in state or federal court.
• Identity theft victims and active duty military personnel have additional rights. For more information, visit www.ftc.gov/credit.

[MrsPinecone]

:Bump15:

It's a new year and tax time isn't too far away. Might be a good time to check those credit reports and get any errors corrected!

[shrup]

Thanks for the reminder.

Does checking your scores bring your scores down? I've also heard that opening too many credit cards will bring your score down. I would like to cleanup and close cards that have never been used but will need to check the reports before I do.

[MrsPinecone]

You checking your own reports has no effect on your score. Companies checking it does.

Opening OR closing too many cards will lower your score. It increases your debt to income ratios or something like that. I would close maybe one card every couple of months, not a bunch at one time.

[berlinsmommy]

Does anyone know if your one free per year is per calendar year or if it is one year from the last time you checked it?

[MrsPinecone]

From the last time you checked it, as far as I can figure.

[MrsPinecone]

Don't forget to run a free annual report on your children. They are starting to see lots of identity theft using children's social security numbers!

[Mexi]

Thank You Larissa, That is something I have never thought of before.

[Pennstater]

I did this a few years ago! I did not receive our score, as I thought, just the information. I was curious about the score, but apparently they don't promise to send you the score. I just assumed. Unless I'm missing something?

Pennstater

[Xaiyla]

OMG! I never thought of check my DD! Thanks!!!!! I would also suggest only pulling 1 credit report from annualcreditreport at a time and do so every 4 months . That way you can check more often. Although they don't all report the exact same it does keep you better informed if you stagger them!