Free Instant Credit Reports – Score

Clara Ghomes asked:




Credit reports of an individual are a record of all his/her past lending transactions such as borrowing money, repayments, information regarding late payments (if any) and bankruptcy. The credit rating or score is based on the credit report of an individual. These ratings help in determining the ease and difficulty with which a person would (or won’t) get credit from credit card companies, banks or any other creditors.

The US laws have allowed every person to request for a free copy of their credit report every year. It’s very beneficial to get a free report, but the opportunity could get wasted if one doesn’t know how to read them. It also could be frustrating if a person doesn’t have any clue regarding how to read or understand their credit report. Nowadays, these reports are many important with the number of identity thefts which are on a rise and regular checking of reports helps a person in dealing with any issues in the report.

A person can request his/her copy of free report from any of the credit bureaus- namely TransUnion, Equifax and Experian (or TRW). One can also go online to get a copy of their financial records. One should make a habit of checking their report every year. Also, the credit bureaus should be contacted in case of any occurrence of incorrect information in an individual’s report.

After receiving the copy, one should sit down and review the report slowly and carefully. Each line of the report should be analyzed to get all the information regarding the debts. Many documents also provide ‘key’ with which one can understand the meaning of the symbols and codes used in the report. Also, a copy of the report should be faxed to the accountant for identification of any tax implications.

Any information which doesn’t make any sense should be highlighted. One should remind themselves to search online for explanation regarding the unclarified information. Friends with adequate knowledge regarding this report can be contacted for advice. One can also try free credit counselling agencies if there is still problem in analyzing the report, why it exists and the information on the report. Also, one should immediately investigate anything that doesn’t look familiar. The information should be reviewed on a monthly basis.

There are also companies which offer services of checking credit reports and confirming information for a fee. But, going online to request free such report can help in viewing the information for free. Also, these reports don’t mention the credit rating of an individual; they just provide all the list of accounts to check that the information on the report is true and contains no errors.

Harold

Clara Ghomes asked:




Credit reports are the record of a company’s or a person’s previous transactions which involved borrowing money from agencies or people. It also keeps a record of any late payments and even bankruptcy. The federal law of US allows all the users to receive free copy of their individual credit report from all the primary credit reporting agencies once in every twelve months.

The three major credit bureaus (or reporting agencies) are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. One should check their credit report for several reasons. There has been a rise in Identity theft and one should check that all items listed in the report belong to the user and are correct. Even if an individual isn’t thinking of buying or doesn’t need the report for any reason, they should check their credit report to take advantage of the free offer.

These credit reports can be requested by mail or phone, but going online is the fastest and easiest way to check one’s report. After checking, that a person has all the required information (and also a computer with an internet connection), he/she can easily check their report. One can follow the below mentioned steps to check their report online:

1. The online site created by the primary credit bureaus should be accessed. This website has been authorized to provide the free service of giving credit reports annually. The state can be selected from the drop down menu and then ‘Request Report’ button should be clicked.

2. The user’s personal information should be filled. Usually, the fields which are marked with a sign (generally) are mandatory. The details involve name, social security number, birthday, current address and previous address. Once all the required details have been filled, the user can fill characters in the box specified and then the ‘Continue’ button should be clicked.

3. The opening page allows a user to select this report from any of the three reporting bureaus (agencies). The desired such report should be selected by checking the box next to the desired one. After this, the ‘Next’ button should be clicked. To access the bureau’s (agency) site, the ‘Next’ button is to be pressed again.

4. One can view their report online by verifying themselves. Verification is done by entering the last four digits of the social security number. After that, the ‘Submit’ button should be clicked. The ‘Submit’ button is to be clicked again after clicking on the “Annual Credit Report’ button. After this, one has to answer several questions to identify themselves and after filling the answers, the ‘Continue’ button should be pressed. After this, the report can be viewed.

A person can check all three reports at a single time or a different one in every four months. By spreading the reports, one can verify any changes in the report in the whole year.

Marcus