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Credit Reports That Cost You Nothing

A free credit report may not be so free after all! If you sign up for a free credit report, you might be automatically signed up for a credit monitoring service that you might not need. If you dispute negative items in your free credit report which are accurate, you might have to pay for the same. After the dispute is over, you will lose some of your money and nothing else will happen. As such you must understand fully what you are signing for before going in for a free credit report.

You can view your credit report free of charge
A recent amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) calls for each of the three major credit reporting agencies Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, to provide a free credit report to any consumer wanting the report once every twelve months. If you are living in one of the 13 western states, you can actually view your free credit report without any charge. This is the result of the three major credit bureaus consolidating a new plan for handing out credit reports. It is heartening to note that all other regions of the country will also be covered under the above scheme by September 2005, whereby everyone will have access to a free credit report. However, you can only get one free credit report every year and you will not get locked in to sign up for a monitoring service.

Why are the three major credit bureaus so safe to get your free credit report?
When you request for your free credit report, you have to provide all your personal information, including your Social Security Number to the online agency you are dealing with. This can be very risky and dangerous as the agency can use the information for illicit operations which can be detrimental to your interests. It is therefore better to deal with trusted and reputable agencies like the three major credit bureaus from whom you can now get your free credit report without any fear of being defrauded by a scam.

Getting the free credit report from any of the three major credit reporting companies Equifax, Experian and Transunion is considered to be safe and reliable even by the lenders. The consumer's history of bill-paying, types of accounts opened under a consumer's name, late payments and the size of credit accounts opened is thoroughly investigated by these three credit reporting companies. Based on this information and using a complex mathematical formula, a number, known as a FICO score, is generated. The range of this number is between 300 to 850 and most consumers fall between 600 and 700. This number is the true index of a consumer's creditworthiness and the lenders use it to determine whether or not to grant loans or credit cards, to the consumer. The higher the number, the more trustworthy the consumer and the more likely it is that a lender will offer a loan to the consumer.

Know your free credit report
Incorrect information and fraudulent activities can downgrade your credit report and as such consumers must regularly check their credit reports. Human errors such as transcription of social security or account numbers or the wrong spelling of a name can occur inadvertently. If you notice any fraudulent activity on your credit report, you must get the same investigated immediately. Moreover, identity theft can also take place and this can really devastate your credit rating. It is essential to study your free credit report regularly so that any identity theft can be detected early enough so that remedial measures can save you lots of time and energy.

It is only by viewing your free credit report and knowing your credit score that you know where you stand in respect of eligibility for getting loans and the interest and rates that will be applicable. If your score is low, you can take steps to raise its level and thereby improve your life.




 
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