Preparing For A Loan – Securing Your Credit Report

Before you complete a credit application or apply for a mortgage, you should prepare by doing your own credit check so that you’re not only certain it will accurately reflect your transactions, but also so that you have an understanding of what information creditors will be distributing about your history.

At your request, The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide credit reporting companies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) to provide you with a free copy of your credit report once every 12 months.  All three reports can be ordered at the same time, or individually from each reporting company so that you can obtain a new report every four months if you would prefer.

To aid in this process, the above nationwide credit reporting companies have set up a central website (www.annualcreditreport.com) which lists a toll-free telephone number and mailing address where you can order your annual reports; however, if you’d prefer to place your order online, you can do so directly through the website as well. 

While the central website is secure, I have purposely not placed a link which would take you directly to it because it’s important to remember that, when doing personal business, you should never follow a link you have found on someone else’s personal page or blog.  With the rise in internet sites that seek to collect your personal information or sell various products, when navigating to a new page which will ask for private data, always open a new browser and type in the site address yourself.   However, when putting in the web address, make a point to check your spelling because some imposter sites actually have similar web addresses which are purposely misspelled so that, instead of reaching the real Annual Credit Report site, you will unknowingly be taken to their phony site.

To order over the phone, you can reach Annual Credit Report at 1-877-322-8228.

To mail in a request, complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and send it to:  Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

If you are applying for a mortgage, make a point to check your credit a few months in advance, so that should any issues arise, you will have adequate time to address them with the agency.

Please note that Annual Credit Report’s free service only provides consumers with their credit report, not their actual score; however, if you would like to obtain your score as well, they will provide you with the option to purchase it.

If you would like more information, the Federal Trade Commission’s website has information on the Fair Credit Reporting Act where you can not only learn out more about your consumer rights and credit reporting, but also gain some wonderful knowledge on general consumer protection.