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Articles » Free Annual Credit Report | | What Circumstances Qualify A Person To Obtain A FREE Credit Report? |
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Under a federal law called the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are entitled to request a copy of your credit report free of charge from each of three national credit bureaus during a twelve month period. The three bureaus are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You can request your free annual credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com, the only official, government sanctioned site to download your report from. Additional credit reports are available from the bureaus for a fee unless you qualify with one of the following circumstances:
You can request a copy of your credit report free of charge, if a company takes an unfavorable action such as denying you insurance, credit or employment. You have sixty days after an action like this to request your free credit report. The inquiry from the party that checked your credit should be logged on the report. This free credit report will not include your credit score, but will have all of the information used to calculate that score.
Another circumstance that makes you eligible for a free report is being unemployed. If you are unemployed and planning on seeking a job within sixty days, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report. Many employers will request that you sign a release for them to review your credit history so you have a right to look at it yourself before you authorize someone else to access it.
The third situation that makes you eligible for a free copy of your credit report is an instance of identity theft or fraud that results in incorrect entries on your credit report. You can contest this erroneous information by writing a letter to each of the credit bureaus and requesting its removal. This objection entitles you to a free copy so that you can review the improper entries and have them corrected in a timely manner. This situation often comes up in the event of a lawsuit or collection action over a debt that you are not responsible for. The contact information for each of the three credit bureaus is:
- Equifax: 1-800-685-1111 equifax.com
- Experian: 1-888-397-3742 experian.com
- TransUnion: 1-800-916-8800 transunion.com
If you experience an instance where the bureaus do not comply with a request that they are legally obligated to address, you can find assistance from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the regulating agency that monitors credit bureau activities and upholds the laws of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
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