Consumers use the Federal Trade Commission as a sounding board for their complaints. A few years ago, many consumers saw an advertisement for a free credit report and then got stuck paying a monthly fee for a service, and the FTC received a high number of complaints. As a result, the Fair Credit Reporting Act was changed so that consumers can receive a free credit report from TransUnion, Experian, and Eqiufax each, the three national consumer reporting agencies, annually.
There are many websites that advertise free credit reports if you agree to test out their services. The only place online where you can find a truly free credit report is the American government's website, www.annualcreditreport.com. You can apply for you free credit report online, by phone, or by mail.
Although these credit reports that have been apportioned for consumers by the federal government are completely free to use, a rather large number of consumers fail to avail themselves of this service. Since it does take some time to fill out a request form and send it in, some people don't want to take the time to do it. Other people, though, simple are not aware that they can get a credit report for free.
In order to stay on top of your credit, you should get a credit report once every four months. This schedule works out well with the arrangement that has been established by the US government. Since each of the three national credit reporting agency is required by federal law to give consumers a free credit report once a year, you can request one from each agency every four months and thus maintain a watchful eye on your credit without having to pay anything.
Keep in mind, however, that these credit report agencies are not going to send you a free credit report without at least trying to get you to spend some money on other services that they offer to consumers. They will offer you such non-essential services as monthly credit monitoring and a credit score.
Knowing your credit score is not necessary if all you want to do is check on your credit history. It is good to know, however, if you are interested in applying for a loan sometime soon. If your credit score shows up low for some reason, you will be able to prepare an explanation to the loan officer that you will speak to regarding why your credit score was low and what you have done to change your financial situation.
If you are worried about identity theft or have a spouse (or ex-spouse) that is wreaking havoc with your credit history, then it might be a good move to spend a little on the credit watch that is available.
There really are free credit reports available to you right now. The centralized annualcreditreport.com will give you the information that you need at a price anyone can afford.
The government passed a law that allows every citizen to get a free annual credit report a few years ago. This law states that they can get their credit history because of the recent increase in identity theft. This free credit report is easily available online and will give you reports from all three of the credit reporting agencies. A credit score is not going to be provided in this instance for you to view.
This is a very popular new law and there are many con artists and identity thieves that have come about and starting their own credit report web sites to scam you. They are making money off of this new law that is supposed to protect you. There are over 100 free credit report web sites that will help you online right now. There is one good web site that will help you get a real free credit report online and that is www.annualcreditreport.com
The free credit report scam is usually going to charge a ?small fee? to get what is a free credit report. There are also fake free credit report web sites that will take down your information and ask for your social security number or they will ask for your credit card information. With this, anyone can steal your identity and spend money on your accounts that will ruin your credit.
You can find these scamming web sites in different ways. Most of the scam sites have a similar name as the official free credit report web site but you can figure out the difference because these sites often have misspelled works or typos in them. This means that there may be a period of out place. Also most of the web sites will charge you a fee to get the report and remember that you are able to receive one FREE credit report a year. This is true even if they ask you for your credit card information and state and they will not charge you this is something to take note of and be very cautious of. If you get an email of some kind of sales be sure to read the fine print very carefully before you respond. Some have found that certain web sites or sales do offer a free credit report but you have to enter your credit card information and if you do this, you will authorize them to charge your card for credit monitoring services.
You need to remember to get your free credit report either online or at the above mentioned site or phone or mail. You can also make contact of the three national credit report agencies such as Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union and they can also point you in the right direction to keep a your credit on track.
Both William Blake & Shirley Dipace are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
William Blake has sinced written about articles on various topics from Credit Cards, Debt Reductions and Bankruptcy Law. can help you pay off debt faster but it's not the best choice for everyone. Learn more about when you should and shouldn't consider consoli. William Blake's top article generates over 49500 views. to your Favourites.
Shirley Dipace has sinced written about articles on various topics from Free Credit Report Score. Shirley Dipace is an expert in the direct sales and network marketing industry and can be reached at Submitted by:. Shirley Dipace's top article generates over 720 views. to your Favourites.