What You Need To Know About Your 3 Free Credit Reports
You know you are entitled to your 3 free credit reports annually, right? Knowing what a credit report is and updating it either monthly or even annually is important regardless if you have bad or good credit. If you have a credit history, it is wise to have it monitored and updated to avoid further credit problems or worse identity theft which is on the rise presently.
There are three major free credit reporting agencies in the United States namely Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. These 3 free credit reports are private companies that collect and record information gathered from certain lending companies, credit card companies and the like. Not all lending companies submit records to all agencies; they might have their own preferred agency as a result your own personal credit record may slightly differ from one agency to another.
Though the basic job of an agency is the collecting and reporting of credit information, there are also other responsibilities under their belt.
- All information you have filled out for a loan or a credit card application are sent to these credit reporting agencies
- Lending companies and the like go to these credit reporting agencies to secure the needed information to keep them updated. Information like how much is owed by the individual, if it was paid on time, and if they pay regularly
- These agencies are also in charge of collecting information like bankruptcies and foreclosures
- They are only responsible in giving out credit reports when there is an inquiry
- Compute credit scores
Though their primary goal might be accuracy, there are times that reports contain mistakes. These mistakes will be the cause for you having bad credit, ruining your chances on having better loans or getting to qualify for a credit card in the future. That is why monitoring your record is indeed a must.
These three major agencies will be the help that you need. They have integrated themselves into one website where you can request one report from each for free once every year. You should get 3 free credit reports from all three agencies, since as mentioned; these agencies may have slightly different records.
Although it may not be major differences, at least with having information from each bureau; you will have the ability to check the accuracy of your yearly credit report. This will help you with future financial decisions, keeping a positive credit score and having things monitored will keep you updated of false listings and errors.
You can find out more from the official government site at AnnualCreditReport.com. Unfortunately, at the current time this site is for US residents only.
Additional Resources:
The Federal Trade Commission’s Information on Free Annual Credit Reports