Reading through Money Magazine this month (I won a subscription from ChristianPF, a member of the M-Network), I was reminded that I was due for my free annual credit report. Requesting your report is easy. Simply go to www.annualcreditreport.com:
From this site you can request annually a free credit report from each of the three nationwide credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. If you request the reports online, you can view them immediately. You also have the option to request the reports via telephone or mail, requests that typically take 15 days to receive the report.
There are many important reasons to view your credit report each year, but perhaps the most important is to watch for identity theft. If you see credit activity that isn’t yours, you can immediately contact the creditor and credit reporting agency to address the issue. Finally, the Annual Credit Report site also has FAQs that are worth reading to gain a better understanding of the credit reporting process, including fraud alerts.
Rob Berger
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Published or updated May 23, 2011.
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I pull one of my three credit reports every 4 months just to watch for identity theft. I have seriously thought of taking advantage of the new credit freezes offered by the credit bureaus.
Pulling one report every 4 months is a great idea. For some time I paid $9.95 a month for credit manager from Experian, but with the free reports now available, it’s no longer worth it.