Having read an article in USA
Today about getting your credit information for Free we decided to try it out
for ourselves. You have to understand that there are 3 credit
bureaus in the United States. They are:
Experian http://www.experian.com
1-888-397-3742
Equifax http://www.equifax.com
1-800-685-1111
Trans Union http://www.transunion.com
1-800-680-7289
You are permitted to get one report from each company in a one year period.
While it is possible to get all three at one time USA Today recommended that you
send for one every four months during the year. That way, if something comes up
during the year you will be apprised of it in a fairly timely manner. The
website you log on to is: http://www.annualcreditreport.com.
I tried it out by running Bob's name through one credit bureau (Experian) and
mine through another (Equifax). They both gave pretty much the same information,
however, I felt that Equifax had more detailed information. When you run annual
credit report.com you can then choose which credit bureau you want to go to after
entering your personal information and then answering some questions to confirm
who you are. With us traveling as we do, it is very important for us to stay on
top of our credit reports because it would be very easy for someone who wanted
to steal our information and get a credit card under our information. We haven't
been as good as we could have to check this information because you either
had to sign up for a service to do this or pay for the report. We now have no
further excuses. Although it is possible to go to each of these websites direct,
it is much simpler to go directly to the annual credit report.com site which
then directs you to whichever bureau to want to check or all if you wish to
have them all at one time. Again, remember if you get them all at once, you
cannot check again (for free) for another year. Although these will give you
your credit report, they will not provide your credit score unless you pay a
fee.
Another thing I might mention is: if you ever lose a credit card or have one
stolen, not only should you notify your credit card company you should call all
three credit bureaus as well. That way, if someone misuses your credit card or
your information it will be on file with the bureaus that your card was
lost/stolen. In order to facilitate this I have included not only the website
information for the credit bureaus but their phone numbers as well.
Hope this helps some of you folks to keep on top of your credit information.
Laura