The other day I ran a credit report and a coworker asked if I could blog about how I did that. I didn't want to inadvertently forget to post a requested topic since I've been gardening a lot.
Here's the skinny on credit reports. Back in 2003, Congress passed the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act). There is a provision in there allowing consumers a free credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian) once a year.
The method I use to get my credit report is to use AnnualCreditReport.com. You simply go to their home page, select your state in the "Start Here" area and you're off. You will have to verify a few pieces of information but once you've done that you can select which site(s) you would like to recieve your report from.
Since you are allotted one report per 12 month period from each agency, I typically run on a 4 month schedule pulling a single report at a time. Here's how I do it.
That way without paying a dime I get a credit report once every four months.
If you haven't ran a report in awhile, do it today, it's free and you've got nothing to lose.
This blog contains the thoughts and discoveries of Tim Barcz, a technologist with a interests in computer programming technologies.