Free Credit Report

Why should I request my credit report?

As you probably know there are three nationwide consumer credit bureaus in the US that collect and aggregate your credit history: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

By law you are entitled to obtain a free copy of your credit report from each of these bureaus once a year.

I do it in the following way - in January I'm requesting a report from Experian, in May - from Equifax, in September - from Transunion, next January - again from Experian and so on. This way I keep a good track of what's happening in my credit report (if your spouse is a co-applicant on majority of your trades then you can alternate the report requester and get the report every other month).

Why should you monitor your credit report? The information in your report and the credit score calculated based on this information are used to evaluate your creditworthiness when you apply for a mortgage, auto loan, credit card, and even could be checked by a potential employer.

So it's important for you to make sure the information in your report is accurate. Also you could identify any potential problems (for a example a credit card opened under your name which you never asked for).

How can I get my credit report?

Go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com, select your state, fill out the form, select a credit bureau (pick any when you are doing it for the first time), be careful to select a free report option which would say something like "No thanks, I just want my free Annual Report" (you'll be offered to add your credit score or some other reports that are not free), verify your identity (they may ask you who is your mortgage company or auto loan provider, what's your monthly mortgage payment, ask for your past addresses, your county, etc. and finally you'll get your report.

What are you going to get and what should you look for in your credit report?

First of all, you will get a summary page which looks something like this:

• There are 0 potentially negative items in your report.

• You have 20 accounts in good standing in your report.

• Check the recent requests for your credit history.

• Check your personal information.

If you don't see any negative items you know you are in good shape. But still it wouldn't hurt to print the whole report which shows all your trades (mortgage, auto loan, credit cards etc.) along with payment information, current status of the trade (open/closed) and so on.

You can also see what institutions were checking your credit (requests or inquiries).

Also you'll be provided with bureau's contact information and useful links for example on how to dispute errors in your report or put a fraud alert on your file.