Free Credit Report

If you are committed to repairing your credit or simply to know what is on your credit report, I have good news for you. A free copy of your credit report is or soon will be available to every consumer annually. Perhaps you have heard of this new annual free credit report. This article discusses the free report as well as repairing your report once you have your credit file on hand.

With the new law, everyone is entitled to one FREE credit report from each of the three major national credit bureaus every 12 months beginning in 4 phases:

1. The 13 Western states began December 1 2004;
2. Consumers in 12 Midwestern states will be able to use it starting March 1;
3. Residents of 11 Southern states will be eligible on June 1; and
4. September 1 is set for people in 15 Eastern states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories and possessions.

Additionally Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey and Vermont already have a right to one free report per bureau each year. As written in another of my articles, consumers may be entitled to a free report under certain other conditions, such as having been denied credit, insurance or a job within the past 60 days. You're also entitled to a free report if you think your report is inaccurate due to fraud.

But under the new law, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion have an online site where you can get a free report at Annual Credit Report. There is also a toll-free phone number: 877-322-8228. Finally you can write to P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. Yahoo News suggests: "If you do use the postal address, it's best to print and mail in a completed online request form. You can't get your report unless you answer questions on the form." There is lso information available through Federal Trade Commission.

Here are some basic things you should check on your report. You can read more at my article entitled What You Should Look For. Go through your entire report entry by entry. Have the credit agency legend by your side in order to verify coding compliance. Have also a paper and pencil to annotate any item you find in error. Go slowly!

Here are eight basic items to check that have caused problems for others:

1. Don't assume your personal information is correct. You could be viewing information from someone else's report with just a simple error such as: first name misspelled, missing Jr./Sr., erroneous address, bad zip code, wrong employer, or any other incorrect personal data.
2. Insure marital information is correct. Are accounts listed as "joint" really joint? Is the report in compliance with court settlements?
3. Outdated information is normally considered to be any item older than 7 years except for bankruptcy which is usually 10.
4. Closed accounts should not be listed as open. Accounts you closed should reflect "closed by consumer". Otherwise it can be assumed that it was closed by the creditor-- not good.
5. Accounts should not appear twice even in different sections.
6. Incorrect histories such as late payments, a credit entry you do not recognize, a pre-marital debt of your current spouse, or other such items need your attention.
7. Are there missing reports that would be beneficial to show a good history, and are profiles, credit limits, and balances correct?
8. A former correction to your credit file which has since disappeared should be brought to the agency's attention.

You might want to note that each bureau offers credit ID fraud called safeguard services, but for fees. For example TransUnion offers "ID Fraud Watch". For $10.95 each quarter, you get a credit report every three months and $25,000 of identity theft insurance.