By
Yvonne Lapp Cryns
There are a number of reasons for wanting to know your credit
report. You may want to
improve your bad
credit
or just want to know what a lender sees when you apply for loans or
a mortgage, or you may just want to know what your own credit
history looks like.
A
credit report is made up of four categories of information that come
from your credit history and includes information on where you live,
how you pay your bills, and whether you've been sued, arrested, or
filed for bankruptcy. These
categories are:
Identification Information This includes your name, address,
social security number, and date of birth.
Credit History This contains a your payment history and shows
the status of the accounts, your credit limit or credit balance,
your monthly payment information, and other information.
Public Records This part includes information on any court
judgments such as tax liens, bankruptcies, and collections.
Inquiries This part of the report contains information about
other entities or people who may have looked at your credit report
in the past six months and why they looked at it.
Get
a Free Credit Report
There
are a number of reasons you may be entitled to a free credit report.
Three of these ways are: 1) annually by federal law, 2)
if you have been refused credit, and 3) if you have been a victim of
fraud. In
addition, residents of Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Vermont have free access to their
credit reports by their state laws.
1)
Free by Federal Law
A
federal law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of
the nationwide consumer reporting companies Equifax, Experian,
and TransUnion to provide you with a free copy of your credit
report, at your request, once every 12 months.
Each of these companies may have different information about
you, so it is good to know what credit information they have on you.
Once
each year, you may order a credit report for free.
The three nationwide consumer reporting companies have a
central website, toll-free phone number and a mailing address.
You should not
contact the reporting companies themselves to get the free annual
reports.
To
order a free credit report, you may go to: annualcreditreport.com,
call 1-877-322-8228, or complete the Annual
Credit Report Request Form and mail it to: Annual
Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA
30348-5281. Anualcreditreport.com
is the ONLY online authorized FREE source of credit reports.
If you go elsewhere, you may be charged a fee!
You
may request a report from each of the three companies at the same
time, or you may order them one at a time, at different times.
You may only request one free report from each company every
12 months.
2)
Free If Youre Turned down for Credit
If
you are refused credit, you can get a free copy of your credit
report. You will
receive a letter that explains why you were refused, which credit
company was used, and how to contact them to get a free report.
You must request the free report within 60 days of getting
the notice.
3)
Free If You Are a Victim of Fraud
Lastly,
if you are a victim of fraud, or identity theft, you may request a
free credit report. If
you believe there has been fraudulent activity that appears on your
credit report, then you should report it.
Write to the credit companies, explain the situation to them,
and request a free copy of your report.
If
you use fraud as an excuse to get a free copy, you should know that
each time you do so, the credit company puts a note in your report
about the suspicion of fraud.
Resources:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/credit/ycr_
free_reports.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/
freereports.shtm
ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/credit
