Free Annual Credit Report
As of June 1, 2005, residents of Kentucky and other southern states are entitled to one free credit report a year from each of the big three credit agencies.
Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act), consumers can request and obtain a free credit report once every 12 months from each of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies.
These three companies are: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Rather than checking your credit on each company’s website, you can get all reports from AnnualCreditReport.com, which is a “centralized service for consumers to request annual credit reports.”
Western and Midwest states were eligible for this free credit report earlier in the year while the rest of the country (Eastern US and US territories) becomes eligible in September.
I encourage you to check out your credit at least once a year. You can actually check your credit every three months, each check being from a different company, rather than checking all three at the same time. With the rise in identity theft, it sure doesn’t hurt to make sure that your credit is what you think it is. If you have credit problems, do what you can to restore your credit. It’s amazing how much bad credit can hurt you in the long run.
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Jun 2nd, 2005 at 00:41:52
Everyone should DEFINITELY get this done. Working in banking, I see credit reports and identity theft a lot. You need to be on top of this!
Chris, I had a blog entry ready to post tomorrow night on this. I am having to schedule my entries, go too much going on !
Jun 4th, 2005 at 08:24:29
Yeah I saw this back in the springtime, when I had to go get my credit report after being denied a credit card. For some really insane reasons, report was all good, except for the one bank credit card that wasnt on there. But with the reasons they gave me for denying me the card. It would have just worsened my case at that time.
Though if I am not mistaken, this doesnt give you your actual score, its a somewhat minimal report with just the basics.
Jun 4th, 2005 at 11:35:57
Right, they don’t give your actual credit score. I think you can pay for that information if you want it, though. The report is still good enough to tell if you have credit cards or other loans that you don’t remember and watching for identity theft.
Jun 4th, 2005 at 20:17:59
Yeah, you have to pay for your score. But the score is a direct result of the items reported under your report, so seeing what is on your report will help you.