Whenever you want to apply for a credit card, a mortgage, or any other source of finance, every lender will check your credit reports. Your credit reports will tell the lenders about your previous unpaid debts or any  judgments against you, and help them assess whether you are creditworthy or not?

Basically, there are 3 consumer reporting companies in US: Transunion, Equifax and Experian. You can refer any of them to your lender because all of them keep different information about you.

If you want to apply for credit , and you know that you have been turned down in the past then it becomes very important for you to know that what these companies have in their records about you. As you know all these companies are independent so you need to check all of them.

And most important thing ,you know you will get your credit reports once a year ,since September 1, 2005 according to a new rule you will get a copy of your credit reports once a year from each of the reporting companies.

The best about these reports is that if you think that there is some mistake in the report, like a debt that does not belong to you or a disputed amount –you will need to fill out a form that is with the report, or follow the the instructions on the explanatory sheet.