According to the FCRA or the Fair Credit Reporting Act, every individual is entitled to a free credit report annually. Many agencies can help you out with this.
Several credit score and reporting agencies charge you absolutely nothing for a copy of the free report.
You can call up the reporting agencies and get the report mailed to your doorstep or visit the online portals or the central website at the www.annualcreditreport.com.
How to obtain the annual credit report?
If you are looking for answers on how to obtain the free annual credit report, then you are at the right place.
There are three leading organizations that report the yearly credit score and performance, including Equifax, Experian, and the TransUnion. All you need to do is print the credit report request form and send to the Annual Credit Report Request Service.
Since there can be discrepancies in the report, the pro-tip is to request individual reports from all three of the service providers.
Documents that you need to supply
You don’t need to provide or handover a large number of documents for obtaining the free credit report. All you need are the following.
- Your name
- Social security number
- And the permanent address of residence
Whether you request the report by mail or by a phone call, keep in mind that the turnover time is around a fortnight.
Avoid getting duped
There are several agencies and paid services available online that makes you fall prey to their money-making schemes. So, you should stick to the three major credit report service providers as mentioned in the earlier section.
With a professional and reputed service provider, you can be sure of the authenticity of the report. More importantly, you will not have to pay a single dime for your annual credit report.
If you got charged?
If you have already registered with a paid service for your annual credit report, you can always file a complaint report against your service provider at the www.ftc.gov.
The Federal Trade Commission deals with the application and the fair usage of the FCRA legislations. Recover your money directly to your bank account with the help of the FTC in case you have been charged for the otherwise free credit report.
Why do you need to check the credit report?
If you are asking why it is necessary to check the credit report once a year, then let us assure you that it is imperative. When you are looking to draw a line of credit from sources like the banks, mortgage lenders and the insurance companies the only parameter to asses you as a liability of risk or good investment is the credit report.
The report helps these lending institutions to decide how much to loan and what to charge you.
Obtain your credit report and check the fine print thoroughly to make sure there aren’t any mistakes.
If there are, you need to get the report corrected within 30 days of receiving the report.
The credit report is also the perfect tool to observe and analyze bad practices that result in incurring of debt, including late and skipping of payments.
Take control of your money and manage it better with a free annual credit report. Remember, you can still buy a home with bad credit, but it’s important to take control today!