by Dana Coyle

Created on: January 25, 2009   Last Updated: May 18, 2010

You know you should get a copy of your credit report and you see all the advertisements for credit reports and scores. So where do you start? A good place to begin is learning about your consumer rights and finding out what all of your options are.

Why

Checking your own credit report is an important piece of identity theft prevention and successful credit building.

Approximately 80% of all credit reports have errors on them so checking the accuracy of your accounts is a smart move. Look for any balances on accounts that have already been paid off or late payments on accounts that never had a missed payment.

Accounts that you don't recognize or addresses of places you have never lived can be signs of identity theft or fraudulent activity.

Free Reports

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and its amendment, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) state that every American is entitled to a free credit report annually. Because there are three credit reporting agencies or bureaus, everyone has THREE free reports each year. You can choose to get all three at once, or access them throughout the year by getting a different report every four months for regular credit monitoring.

The official site to get your free credit report under the FCRA is www.annualcreditreport.com. There is no cost to you and the report is available immediately online. If you prefer to have your report mailed to you, call 877-322-8228 to request your free report; it should arrive within a few weeks.

You may also be entitled to a free credit report if you are turned down for a credit card, a loan or insurance. The letter you receive about the loan denial should provide information to get your free report within 60 days.

People that are unemployed or on public assistance can get a free credit report by sending a letter to the credit bureaus explaining the situation and requesting the free report under FCRA Section 612(c).

Other Reports

Some banks and credit card companies offer free credit reports, credit scores or monitoring services to their customers. These benefits should be listed in your account information pamphlet or found by calling the customer service phone number on your monthly statement.

There are numerous places to purchase your credit reports. Each of the credit bureaus offers several different products available.

Equifax P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374, 1-800-685-1111, www.equifax.com

Experian P.O. Box 2002, Allen, TX 75013, 1-888-397-3742, www.experian.com

TransUnion P.O. Box 1000, Chester, PA 19022, 1-800-888-4213, www.transunion.com

Credit Scores

The free, annual credit reports do NOT come with credit scores although there is an opportunity to purchase scores when you get the reports. NOTE: These may not be FICO scores, which are the most common scores that lenders use.

You can get your own actual FICO scores at the website of the company that created them, www.myfico.com. All three scores with the three credit bureau reports is less than $50.

It is a good idea to become familiar with your credit reports and check them regularly. And checking your own reports will not count against your score, so get yours today to be sure it is correct.

Learn more about this author, Dana Coyle.
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