Three Ways to Get Free Credit Reports

When it comes to free credit reports there are countless offers. Choosing a legitimate way of getting free credit reports is an important part of knowing your credit situation without having to pay out a lot of money to check with credit reporting agencies about your credit history. There are three common and easy ways to access free credit reports. The first of these is to see if you qualify for a free yearly credit report through the government.

The law allows U.S. consumers to get one free credit report each year. When requested the credit reporting agency has to provide you with a credit report and can’t deny you for any reason. The only way you won’t get your free credit report quickly with this provision is if you don’t answer the security questions that you are required to answer. These questions are designed to see what you know about the information on your credit report and information you should know. To use this option you need to go to AnnualCreditReport.com and request your free credit report. Your request can only be done from the website, through the phone or through the mail. You can’t get this credit report directly from a credit reporting agency.

Second you can get a free credit report is you are denied for credit. Whenever you are turned down by a lender you are allowed a free copy of your credit report by law. Once you are denied credit you will receive a letter about the reason for this denial as well as the name of the credit agency through which they got your credit report. At this time you have sixty days to get a free credit report from the reporting agency or agencies that are listed in the denial letter. However, this only allows you to get a report from the reporting agency and not all three. But this is still a good way to check out your credit report without having to pay for it. Although it can be a good idea to only use this as a last resort since you often want to find problems in your credit report before you apply for credit not after you have been denied.

Lastly you can get free credit reports through a credit monitoring service’s free trial. These are the numerous advertisements you are bombarded with on the radio, television and internet. The free credit report is your gift for trying the company’s service. You will often have thirty days to cancel your membership and not be charged for a month’s service. This is a good way to quickly see if someone is applying for credit in your name should you think you are the victim of identity theft. However, it would be a good idea to only use this option as a last resort since it can lead to a lot of junk mail.

No matter whom you choose to use for your free credit reports it is important that you keep a hard copy of your credit report in a safe place. This way you can always have a copy to refer to the next time you get a free credit report. Checking your free credit reports one to four times a year is the best way to protect your financial information.