When is FREE not FREE?
In a world seemingly driven in all matters by credit reports, getting that report for nothing ought to be a good thing,
But the commercial entities beat the federal government to the web address freecreditreport.com.
And they also got a better ad agency that wrote catchy tunes promoting their product, under the guise of free credit report.
But freecreditreport.com provides you a free credit report only if you surrender personal information, wait for it to come by snail-mail and sign up for a monthly service billed to your credit card.
They bank on you not cancelling that subscription.
Cha ching!
It’s not really free.
Free credit report
The three big credit reporting agencies do provide a no-strings attached credit report free to everyone, once a year.
Unfortunately, the URL doesn’t mention free, and doesn’t come with a catchy, banjo driven jingle;
Annualcreditreport.com
But it does provide simple, and free, access to your credit file.
The right to know
Federal law enacted in 2003 gives everyone the right to request a free credit report each year from each of the three national credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax, and Transunion.
For nothing (that is: free) you can examine your credit report once every four months, if you request your free report sequentially from the CRA’s.
Repeat after me: annualcreditreport.com.
What to do if you find errors
The Federal Trade Commission website walks you through how to challenge inaccurate information on your credit report. They’ve even included a sample dispute letter.
ConsumerHelpCentral.com sorts out your remedies if the CRA doesn’t correct the information.
Sing the chorus
Here’s the game plan:
- Click on www.annualcreditreport.com
- Order a copy of your report from one agency
- Look for errors and inaccuracies
- Challenge bad information
- Mark your calendar for 4 months to order a report from one of the other national CRA’s
Then, how about I offer a free subscription to BankruptcySoapbox to the best jingle submitted for ANNUALCREDITREPORT.COM.
I talk about credit after bankruptcy at Bankruptcy in Brief and what your credit report should show after bankruptcy discharge.
