Checking my credit report

The law that regulates credit reporting is the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. Under this law, you have the right to see the information in your credit report. There are three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

Equifax - www.equifax.com
800-685-1111
P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
Fraud Alerts: 800-525-6285

Experian - www.experian.com
888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)
P.O. Box 2002, Allen, TX 75013

TransUnion - www.transunion.com
800-888-4213
P.O. Box 1000, Chester, PA 19022
Fraud Alerts: 800-680-7289……

PLEASE NOTE: Not all creditors or lenders report information to all three agencies. Although most national lenders always report to all three agencies, smaller lenders may only report to one, and so it's quite possible that your credit report may vary from one agency to another.

With a 3-in-1 Credit Report you can see your credit history as reported by the three major credit reporting agencies. The information is compiled into one easy-to-read report, so you can compare the information each credit reporting agency has on file about you.

Free reports once a year

Once every 12 months under the federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) of 2003, you are entitled to one FREE copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies.

The three major credit agencies are working together to develop a centralized source for requesting your free credit report. Here are two ways to access your free credit report:

By Internet:
http://www.annualcreditreport.com

By Phone:
1-877-322-8228

The centralized source will be phased in over nine months as follows:

On December 1, 2004 for consumers living in western states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming).

On March 1, 2005 for consumers living in the mid-western states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin).

On June 1, 2005 for consumers living in the southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas).

On September 1, 2005 for consumers living in the northeastern states and the rest of the country (Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and all United States territories and possessions).

Phishing

Phishing is a scam that cons people into providing personal information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, bank account information, PINs or other sensitive personal information through pop-ups or spam. The phishers trick consumers by posing as a company that you may do business with, your bank for example. Then the frauds request that you update your account information. They often will direct you to a phony website where you are asked to provide your personal information.

One of the benefits of free annual access to credit reports is the ability to check it for signs of identity theft. However, the act may be exploited by fraudsters to find other new ways to commit identity theft.

NOTE: You will never be contacted by the centralized source to solicit orders for the free FACT Act credit report. Your free FACT Act report is only available when you contact the centralized source in the manner described above. If you should get such a request (or any other request that seems fraudulant), you should forward it to the FTC at [email protected]. If you are concerned that you may have already been scammed, please file a complaint at www.ftc.gov.