Free Credit Reports

Your credit information may be of no use to you. If you’re not planning on buying a house or renting an apartment, buying a car, taking out a loan, paying for college or getting a new credit card, then you won’t need to worry about getting your free credit score. However, most people need to visit www.AnnualCreditReport.com to get a listing of all late payments, charge-offs, debts, collections, loans, liens and types of credit accounts open, so they can get an honest appraisal of their borrowing power. Credit report services from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion each will offer you a free report once a year to help you see where you are and where you need to be financially.

Sometimes, you may look at your free credit scores and credit information only to find it rife with errors. First, get your free credit scores online from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion at www.AnnualCreditReport.com, then print them out and highlight any negative information. Circle disputed records. Check the expiration dates of the records. Bankruptcy filing records should have expired 10 years after the first filing date, charge-offs should be gone within 7 years, collection records should expire within 7 years and 180 days after the last late payment, closed accounts should be removed in 7 years, foreclosure records last for 7 years, inquiries will remain on your credit report for 1-2 years but will not hurt your overall score, judgments/court decisions will remain for 7 years after the filing date, late payments of more than 30 days remain for 7 years, repossession records persist for 7 years and tax liens can remain indefinitely, if unpaid, or else 7 years from the paid date.

To file a dispute about your credit information, you should write a dispute letter to all three of the credit bureaus, which are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. In your letter, put the date, your address and name, phone number and social security number. Just write “The following data is incorrect and should be updated,” then list each inaccuracy, explaining why it’s wrong and what it should be updated with. Attach a marked copy of your credit score report and include all previous communication, account records or statements that will help verify your version of events. By letter is the best way to dispute with Equifax and TransUnion, while Experian only allows online disputes. The credit bureaus then have 30 days to investigate and repair your credit info. Once once done, they will send you a letter letting you know what was or was not updated. If you’re not happy with the letter, then you can try once more with different documentation or get in touch with the creditor to try and fix at the source.

Often, checking your credit information is the best way of discovering an identity theft if you are don’t use one of the identity theft products such as Life Lock who monitor your credit information for you and look for any unusual activity. If you find unusual in your credit information that you have absolutely no explanation for, a loan, a new laptop on credit etc. get in touch with the all 3 bureaus immediately and police for help. Without any type of protection, monitoring your credit information is probably the only chance to avoid identity theft running wild. It won’t prevent it from occurring it but at least it stops it.

To get more credit information, you can check out www.Credit.com. Here you can look up info on popular credit cards, like the Chevron credit card, learn how to plan to buy a house or a car, learn about overcoming challenges and poor credit scores, and get tools on planning for retirement. You can download money management worksheets and check out online finance calculators, as well as gain access to registered credit experts.

Free credit reports have never been easier to get. You can still go the traditional route and pay for them, and then wait to get them in the mail. Or now you can get them online instantly and best of all for free. Now you can get access your credit history anytime you want and anywhere you want.

Your credit report list your credit history. They track every single payment you’ve made or haven’t made on things such as credit cards, mortgage payments, car loans etc. When you payments are late or worse if you forget to make any payment on any form of credit it shows up in your credit reports.

This can become a major issue when you are seeking new credit such as getting a new credit card, buying a car or house or even for things such as renting an apartment. By getting your free credit reports, you can make sure that there are no errors and that you will not be denied what is yours. Remember your credit reports can affect major elements of your financial future so it pays to be informed, and accessing your free reports can never affect your credit rating. And, if you do find an error in any of your credit reports we can help you fix-it.

The Three Credit Bureaus

On our site we refer to free credit reports because there are actually three different companies, or credit bureaus that track your credit history. Each bureau tracks your history differently so it is useful to get each one’s credit report especially since they are all free.

The most popular of these credit bureaus is Equifax which produces credit reports not only for people living in the United States but also for people living in many other countries around the world. The next most popular is Trans Union which is focused primarily on providing reports for those living in the United States. Finally, there is Experian which became one of the big three credit bureaus after its purchase of TRW in 1996.

3-in-1 Credit Reports

Checking each credit bureaus assessment of your credit history is well worth it since each one tracks your credit history differently. And of course the best part about it that you can get all three of your credit reports for free. It is worth noting that many companies including the ones listed above have begun offering so called 3-in-1 credit reports.

The idea, as the name suggests, is that you get all three of credit reports merged together into one. This has the advantage of being faster and easier to read but they cost money. Therefore you have a choice you can either pay to get all three credit reports rolled into one or you can get your three free credit reports separately. Remember they both have the exact same information; it is only the cost that is different.

Free Credit Scores

The other important thing besides your free credit reports are your free credit scores. When you order your free reports from the sites listed bellow you can also get a free credit score (The exception is Experian which charges for their credit score).

Your credit score is just a numerical value between 300 and 900 that assesses your credit worthiness. The higher the number the better risk you are from a lenders point of view. Your credit score is based on information from your credit report and you can view both for free when you sign-up with one or all of the free credit report offers below.

Important: Please read this before ordering your online credit reports. To get your free credit report from each company listed below you will have to sign up for a free trial of their credit monitoring service. These services are the best way to prevent credit fraud and ensure that you never have any credit problems. Therefore if all you want are your free credit reports and free credit scores, then you must cancel the service before the trial ends. You will still get your credit report and credit score but by canceling you will pay nothing. Remember though that these services are a great way to protect your credit rating.