Free Annual Credit Report  | Jul 23,2007

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  The term “free annual credit report” refers to the FCRA ruling that the three main credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, have to provide consumers with a free annual credit report once a year.  However, it is not the only way to get a free credit report. You can also receive a free copy of your credit report by signing up for a trial membership with a credit monitoring service.

The free annual credit report is a valuable tool that is worth requesting.  There are several things that you need to periodically check your credit report for, including: mistakes, suspicious account activity and changes in your FICO score.

What to Do if You Find an Error in Your Credit Report

If you find that there is an error in your credit report, you need to take actions to fix the problem. To do this you will need to contact the credit reporting agency that issued the credit report and inform them of the error. By law they must investigate all claims of inaccuracies reported to them. You also need to contact the creditor that reported the wrong information to see if they can check their records and send a correction report to the credit reporting agencies.

One of the values of signing up for a credit monitoring agency is that the agency will order a copy of your credit report and monitor it for future wrongdoing.  Some free credit report programs include easy-to-read credit reports, which can go a long way towards spotting inaccuracies.

What to Do if You Find Evidence of Identity Theft

If you find evidence that you have become the victim of identity theft, it is very important that you take immediate action. First you will want to contact the issuers of the accounts that have been impacted and report potential identity theft. Next you will want to contact the credit reporting agencies and have them post a fraud alert to your credit report. This way, creditors won’t count the fraudulent activity against you when evaluating you credit-worthiness.

Check here for information regarding erasing inquiries and inaccuracies in your credit report.