What You Need To Know About Free Annual Online Credit Reports?

Getting free annual credit reports is a crucial step in protecting your credit, but getting the report is only half of your responsibility. You need to know where to go for your free credit reports and just what to look for once you get them. Spotting any old and inaccurate information in your free credit reports can help you get a job, find an apartment or borrow money. Your credit score affects a lot of things so don’t put off checking your free credit reports much longer.

Every year Americans are entitled to free credit reports from each of the three major credit bureaus, but at one time they used to cost close to ten dollars per report. Today Equifax, TransUnion and Experian are required to give consumers a free copy of their credit report upon request once a year. Your free credit reports aren’t sent automatically so you need to request them yourself. You can do this by going to AnnualCreditReport.com, calling (877) 322-8228 or contacting them through the Federal Trade Commission.

Free credit reports simply give you a list of your payment history, your accounts, balances and payment behavior. A credit report from these three corporations won’t give you a FICO credit score to tell you your creditworthiness by a lender, employer or insurer. However, credit scores rely on these credit reports when making their calculations so you need to find and correct any inaccuracies as quick as possible when looking over your free credit reports.

When it comes to requesting your free credit reports you can order all three at one time or order each one at different times during the year. When ordering your free credit reports you should do so through a centralized agency. If you go directly to one of the three credit-reporting agencies then you will have to pay a fee unless you meet specific criteria to get a free credit report.

If you choose to visit AnnualCreditReport.com for your free credit reports then make sure you avoid typos when typing the web address. Do not use a search engine to find your free credit reports since many of these links will take you to a scam site operated by credit report impostors who are becoming increasingly more common on the internet today. You can visit the following link to ensure you get your free credit score online.