There are three main credit reporting companies operating in the United States. The law requires these three to provide one free credit report (each) to anyone who requests them within any given year. The three large credit reporting companies are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and they are strictly monitored by Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to provide correct and true information.
Who Can Access Your Credit Report?
Companies, such as credit card companies, mortgage loaners, insurance companies, and potential employers can gain access to your credit report and gain an insight into information regarding where a person currently lives, where a person has lived in the past several years, the person’s financial history – including any bankruptcies – and whether or not a person has been involved in any legal proceedings in the past.
What Do Companies Do With Your Credit Report?
Companies may use this information to decide whether or not money should be lent or credit should be extended/offered to a person seeing the amount of risk attached. A good credit report may show the person as responsible and thrust worthy whereas a bad one may put a bad impression on the creditor. Thus it’s important for a person to monitor what is on his or her credit report, and ensure that everything on the report is correct and current.
How To Contact The Reporting Agencies?
All of the reporting agencies have websites and toll-free telephone numbers that can be used to order free credit reports. But if contacting all three credit reporting agencies seems time consuming, than there is a website (www.annualcreditreport.com) which will provide free credit reports from all three credit reporting companies with one single order. This prevents the need for contacting each reporting company individually.
No Fee Required
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns against seeing commercials that are aired on television, and are available on the Internet too, that advertise free credit reports. While such advertisements may offer free credit reports, they may try to charge users a fee for some sort of other credit reporting service.
You may have to submit some personal information in order to get your personal report. In today’s age of obtaining information instantly via the internet, receiving copies of credit reports is no exception. If correct information is submitted to www.annualcreditreport.com, the information on all three credit reports will almost instantly appear and be printable within seconds. On the other hand, if the credit reports are ordered via telephone, they may take a couple of weeks to arrive in the mail.
Check Your Report For Mistakes
Once the credit reports are received, they should be check thoroughly and evaluated for any mistakes and inaccurate information. Any errors should be brought to the attention of the credit reporting company immediately. The credit reporting company is bounded by the law to correct any and all mistakes, if there is proof that the mistakes are legitimately incorrect. The agencies will work to determine if the errors are in need of correction and will usually make the changes on a credit report within a month.
