How to Get your FREE Credit Reports Once a year
One way to guard against identity theft (or least be made aware of it before it can do a lot of harm) is to take advantage of new laws which enable people to get a free credit report every 12 months.
Since there are three credit reporting agencies, some people space them out over 12 months. Others want to receive them all at the same time to compare the information they contain.
The credit reports will show not only late payments and current obligations. It will also show credit for which the report owner has applied and can alert the consumer to attempts of fraud.
If they have not applied for any credit cards or loans and the credit report shows inquiries into their credit report, they can contact the consumer credit reporting agencies as well as the lenders who have researched their credit. This can start helping to spot attempted identity theft faster.
There is one website, that allows visitors to apply for their free credit report online from all three agencies. Whether they receive them all at once or over a period of time, the application can be made online, over the telephone or through the mail.
The secure website offers many protection levels to make users feel more comfortable making their request.
It should be noted the free credit reports being made available do not contain the score used by lenders to determine a person’s history. The information used by the agencies to arrive at the score is included (the good and the bad).
But, the score is not included in the free credit report, so to obtain the score, the individual will need to buy it from each of the credit reporting agencies. Still, it’s a pretty good deal to get your credit report for free, which you can do here.
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