By the Fair Credit Reporting Act, any individual can obtain his free credit report once a year by requesting any of the report making agencies like Equifax, Experian and Trans Union.
The free credit report contains information on the following aspects:
Information of the residential address of the concerned individual
Mode of bill payment
Whether the person has any criminal background
Method of obtaining the free credit report
The credit report companies- Equifax, Experian and Trans Union have a central website. One can log on to these sites to order his free credit report. Otherwise one can also call at the toll free numbers that are provided by these sites. One can have a free report from the from all the three companies at one go or one at a time. A note of caution in this regard is that there are various sites that offer free credit reports, free credit scores, or free credit monitoring. All these are outside the purview of the free annual credit program that was established by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act.
Information needed for the provision of free credit report
Name, address, social security number and date of birth
New address in the case of relocation
Monthly mortgage payment
The information that has to be provided for the preparation of the free credit report differs across companies.
Importance of the Free Credit Report
The free credit report holder can use it in case of applying for any loan for buying a house, car or applying for insurance.
The free credit report also helps to secure the identity of the individual.
The following situations call for a free credit report:
In case any company is reluctant to give loans, insurance or employment, then one can order the free report and obtain it within 2 months.
