How To Get Your Free Government Credit Report

By law, you are entitled to one free government credit report each year, but you have to apply to get it. The consumer reporting companies are covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act to ensure privacy and accuracy.

Your credit report contains personal information like your address, your bill-paying habits, and your status as far as bankruptcy, arrest or any legal action against you. This information is of interest to companies who may be creditors, employers, insurers, lending institutions and landlords, and the consumer reporting companies sell the reports to them.

There are several reasons why you might need your credit report. If you are going to apply for a loan, get insurance or go for a job, you might want to ensure that the information contained in your credit report is accurate and correct. Your report contains some information that can affect your ability to be approved for a loan and the cost of that loan to you.

Other reasons people get their free annual credit report include protection against identity theft or if they have been refused credit and they need to find what is in their credit report that could have caused the refusal.

You are protected by the Act and have certain rights as well. At this time, there are three consumer reporting agencies nationally, but they are combined under one mailing address, toll free number and website. You have the right to apply for a credit report from each of these agencies, once every year.

A good place to start is to visit the website - www. Annualcreditreport. Com, where you will find answers to any questions you might have and information as to how to apply for your report to be sent to you. You will have to fill in the usual information to identify yourself: name, birth date, address, SS number. You will need to give your past address if you have moved within the past two years. There may be extra questions asked in order to make sure you are entitled to get your report.

There are websites claiming to be able to get your credit report for you, but the only legal and genuine website is annualcreditreport. Com, so don’t waste you time with any other sites. The scam sites might ask you to subscribe or sign up for something, and you will usually end up paying money for nothing. Other sites direct you to another site where they try to sell you something related to credit. These sites have no access to credit reporting.

You privacy is assured under the FCRA, and you will never receive emails or letters from the authorized website when you apply for your government credit report.

Written by Andy Zain on September 30th, 2009 with no comments.
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