How You Can Get Your Credit Report For Free (without any obligations)
You hear it all the time on TV, read it on the web, free credit report this and free credit report that. Of course, free never really means free does it? No. They will give you your free credit report only after signing up for one of their monthly credit monitoring services, which are usually a waste of money anyway. Did you know that you can get a free copy of your credit report from the credit bureau?
It is true. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, to provide you with a free credit report once every year upon request. The keyword here is request, they won’t send it to you unless you ask. Make it a point to order your copies every year around the same time. Check each one for accuracy and signs of illicit activity.
To order your yearly credit report online, visit the website annualcreditreport.com or you can call their toll-free hotline at 1-877-322-8228.
Identity theft is a tough crime to fight, partly because the victim frequently doesn’t even know they have been victimized by a credit thief until months or years down the road. By then, the thief is long gone, and who knows what kind of trail they will leave, if any.
In this day and age, you have to be proactive instead of reactive when it comes to identity and credit fraud. Thieves count on you being lazy and lax with your financial records, don’t give them the upper hand. Check your credit report regularly.
UPDATE 10/28/09: I personally went to annualcreditreport.com and got each one of my three credit reports for NOTHING. While you only get one every 12 months, it is still really convenient. I downloaded mine and printed it out instantly. You don’t have to join anything or sign up for any service. They do give you the option to purchase your FICO score for $7.95 but you don’t have to, if not then just press the “No Thanks, Just The Report” button. The reason you never hear of this site is because they don’t advertise it. Makes sense I guess, probably a cost thing, and a fraud thing. Before entering info into ANY site, look at the browser address box and make sure you are at the site that you think you are at.
