Ralph writes:<\/p>\n
I’d like to know how to get a free copy of my credit report from the agencies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
A recent federal law gives consumers access to their credit reports<\/b>; however, it costs extra to obtain your credit score. Your credit score is not an actual component of your credit report.<\/p>\nThe Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies \u2014 Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion \u2014 to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There is never<\/i> a need to go through any other agency to obtain your credit report. This is an official, government-approved site.<\/b> If you’d like, you can obtain reports from all three credit reporting agencies at once. Or, you can stagger your requests, possibly requesting one report every four months from a different agency. There are three ways to obtain your credit report:<\/p>\n\n- Order it online at AnnualCreditReport.com<\/a>.<\/li>\n
- Call 1-877-322-8228.<\/li>\n
- Complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form<\/a> and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
You will need to provide some basic information, including your social security number, and you may need to provide some personal financial information. If you plan to check your report online, be wary of impostor sites.<\/b> Be absolutely certain that you have reached AnnualCreditReport.com<\/a>.<\/p>\nIt’s important to obtain a copy of your credit report at regular intervals. The credit reporting agencies are not infallible, and neither are your creditors. People make mistakes, and mistakes on your credit report can cost you money. If you suspect an error, read how to dispute credit report errors<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhen you request your free credit report, you’ll also be given a chance to purchase your credit score<\/i> for about $8. Your credit score is a single number that serves as a snapshot for your overall creditworthiness, a sort of summary of your entire credit report. To learn how your credit score is computed, read my anatomy of a credit score<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/span>How to Obtain Your Free Credit Report<\/span><\/h2>\nI don’t think people realize just how simple it can be to check your report! Below, I’ve taken step-by-step screen shots of each leg of the process:<\/strong><\/p>\nFirst, simply visit www.AnnualCreditReport.com<\/a><\/div>\n![\"ACRHome\"](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/acrhomepage.png\")
<\/div>\nOn the homepage, all you need to do is select your state from the dropdown list and press the red “Request Report” button.<\/div>\n![\"acrinfo\"](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/acrinfo.png\")
<\/div>\n\n\n- Next, enter the required information (marked with a red *<\/span>).<\/li>\n
- I recommend checking the box (I’ve highlighted with the red arrow<\/em>) to hide your social security number should you print out the report.<\/li>\n
- Enter in the security code and select “Continue”.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
![\"acrselect\"](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/acrselect.png\")
<\/div>\n\n\n- On this page you can select the bureau (or bureaus) you’d like to get your credit report from.<\/li>\n
- You can view all at once, but you’ll have to wait another full 12 months before re-visiting the same bureau. (In other words, if you pull all three at the same time, you can’t check any of them for free for an entire year.)<\/li>\n
- Courtney and I stagger our request and only pull one every four months.<\/li>\n
- Click “Next”.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
![\"acrconfirm\"](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/acrconfirm.png\")
<\/div>\n\n\n- This screen is just a confirmation that you’ll be visiting the specific site of the bureau you selected.<\/li>\n
- Click “Next”.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
![\"experianconfirm\"](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/experianconfirm.png\")
<\/div>\n\n\n- You are now asked to verify your identity on the specific site of the bureau.<\/li>\n
- This is Experian, although TransUnion and Equifax have similar confirmation screens.<\/li>\n
- Enter your information and press the red “SUBMIT”.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
![\"experianstep1\"](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/experianstep1.png\")
<\/div>\n\n\n- Experian would now like to make a quick buck.<\/li>\n
- Avoid the upsell, and click “Annual Credit Report” highlighted below.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
![\"experianstep2\"](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/experianstep2.png\")
<\/div>\n\n\n- Next is the Order Summary screen.<\/li>\n
- Verify the amount is $0.00 (Free).<\/li>\n
- Check the Terms & Conditions box. (If your name is J.D., you’ll want to read the whole damn thing before checking the box.)<\/li>\n
- Click the red “SUBMIT” button.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
![\"experianstep3\"](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/experianstep3.png\")
<\/div>\n\n\n- Lastly, you have one more confirmation screen before gaining access to the report.<\/li>\n
- Experian asks you four security questions regarding information on the file.<\/li>\n
- Answer the questions (some may very well be “NONE OF THE ABOVE”).<\/li>\n
- Click the red “CONTINUE” button.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
![\"experiansummary\"](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/experiansummary.png\")
<\/div>\n\n\n- Now you have access to your credit report!<\/li>\n
- Look over the Summary, Negative Items, Accounts in Good Standing, Requests, Personal Information, and Personal Statement tabs at the top.<\/li>\n
- Notice the “print your report” link I’ve highlighted in case you want to retain a copy.<\/li>\n
- As always, avoid the upsells to keep your access free!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
![\"experiannegative\"](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/experiannegative.png\")
<\/div>\nHere is a real-life example of what identity theft looks like!<\/b> There’s one negative item listed as “charged off”, but that was a fraudulent account. This is now the third time it’s appeared on Courtney’s report after being removed. Negative items feature a “Dispute this item” button that walks you through the dispute process.<\/div>\n![\"experianhistory\"](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/experianhistory.png\")
<\/div>\nThis is an example of the “Requests for your credit history” tab. You can see there are two primary categories: one for “Requests viewed by others” (hard pulls) and one for “Requests viewed only by you” (soft pulls). In this example, a third party would not see any recent requests for use of credit, since there are none listed for that category.<\/div>\n![\"experianfail\"](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/experianfail.png\")
<\/div>\nNote:<\/b><\/i> If you’ve already accessed your account in the last 12 months, you will be shown this screen when trying to log-in. (Of course, they are more than willing to sell you a report if you have a credit card!)<\/div>\nIn the rare case you are denied access…<\/strong><\/em>
\nIf for one reason or another you are unable to obtain online access, you still have options for getting your free reports. You can:<\/p>\n\n- Call 1-877-322-8228 to obtain a copy by phone; or<\/li>\n
- Complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form<\/a> and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/span>FreeCreditReport.com vs. AnnualCreditReport.com<\/span><\/h2>\nMark Frauenfelder (founder of the awesome Boing Boing<\/a>) has a piece at PC.com that asks: When is a free credit report not a free credit report?<\/b> The answer, of course, is: When it comes from FreeCreditReport.com.<\/p>\nFreeCreditReport.com, which has raised the ire of many, does<\/i> allow people to look at their credit reports free for seven days, but then automatically enrolls users into a $15\/month credit monitoring service. This last fact is a problem. Frauenfelder writes:<\/p>\nI clicked on the large bright orange button that said “Get your Free Credit Report & Score!” and was presented with a form. I filled it out. I hesitated for a second when the site asked for my credit card number, which it stated was “required to establish your account,” but the site assured me that my “credit card will not be charged during the free trial period.” Having done this before (or so I thought), I went ahead and entered the information. A shopping cart receipt indicated that the total was $0.00.<\/p>\n
I got my credit report, looked it over, and forgot about it. A week later I was looking at my checking account register online and I noticed a $14.95 charge from a company called CIC*Triple Advantage. I didn’t recall buying anything from a company with that name, so I entered “CIC*Triple Advantage” into Google. The search results made my eyes bug out of my head. This was the name of the billing entity for freecreditreport.com. The thousands of search results were full of words like “deceptive practices,” “scam,” “ripoff,” “unauthorized billing!” and “beware!” In fact, all the top results were either from people complaining that they’d been conned into signing up for a $14.95 monthly credit monitoring service without their permission, or they were about how to cancel the service.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Frauenfelder admits that it’s his fault for being duped, but still thinks FreeCreditReport.com is slimy. Read the rest of his story for other problems he has with the service.<\/p>\n
Finally, on a lighter note, a post in the GRS forums<\/a> pointed to this spoof commercial highlighting the problems with FreeCreditReport.com.<\/p>\n