The end of the year is a time when we start thinking about how the past year has gone, what went wrong, what went right, and what changes we need to make to ensure things are better in the new year. When you are looking at your financial situation, it’s good to pull a credit report to double check what’s being reported to ensure it is accurate information. As a part of the Federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act, every US resident is eligible to receive one FREE credit report every 12 months from each of the nationwide credit reporting companies.
To learn more about this visit the FACT Act Central Site located at annualcreditreport.com. Any other site offering you a free credit report is a scam or a selling tool to get you hooked into monthly fees. Do not contact the three nationwide credit reporting agencies for your free reports. They are only providing them through the following three methods:
- Order online at annualcreditreport.com
- Order by mailing in a printed out form from the above site to: Annual Credit Report Request Services, POB 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.
- Call 1.877.322.8228 and order by phone.
If you have been turned down for credit in the past 60 days, you are entitled to get a free report directly from the three national credit reporting bureaus. You may also order a report from them at anytime and pay their credit report fee which is usually around $30.00.
Here is how you can contact the three nationwide Credit Bureaus:
Equifax equifax.com 1.800.685.1111 POB 740256, Atlanta, GA 30374
Experian experian.com 1.888.397.3742 POB 2002, Allen, TX 75013
Transunion transunion.com 1.800.888.4213 POB 1000, Chester, PA 19022
But remember what I said… the only truly FREE credit report is through annualcreditreport.com. The rest is a hook to sell you something or a scam to get your information.