Thursday, 1 October 2009

How To Get Your Free Government Credit Report

By Andy Zain

The Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA, entitles you to a free copy of your own government credit report every year. You are assured of the privacy and accuracy of information when you deal with the authorized consumer reporting companies.

Your credit report contains personal information like your address, your bill-paying habits, and your status as far as bankruptcy, arrest or any legal action against you. This information is of interest to companies who may be creditors, employers, insurers, lending institutions and landlords, and the consumer reporting companies sell the reports to them.

There are several reasons why you might need your credit report. If you are going to apply for a loan, get insurance or go for a job, you might want to ensure that the information contained in your credit report is accurate and correct. Your report contains some information that can affect your ability to be approved for a loan and the cost of that loan to you.

Identity theft is a growing crime and checking the accuracy of your credit report helps to protect against it. If you have applied for, but been refused, credit, your credit report might hold information that was responsible.

There are currently just three nationwide companies that are credit reporting agencies, and they are contactable through a combined website, a toll-free phone number and a mail address. You can request one credit report from each company within any year. Remember, that you do have rights under the FCRA.

Go to the website at annualcreditreport. Com to get all the information you need. You will have to download an application to fill in and send back, or you can call the toll free number and ask for one to be sent to you. You will need to supply information like name, address, date-of-birth, social security number. If you have moved recently, your old address should be included. Before your request is filled, you may be asked to identify yourself by answering questions only you know the answer to.

This is the only website legally authorized to provide your government credit report, so beware of other websites that try to lure you into giving out personal details or handing over some money. You will not need to "subscribe" to anything to get your free credit report, so any website that asks for you to "sign up" is not genuine. These websites have no access to your credit report anyway.

You privacy is assured under the FCRA, and you will never receive emails or letters from the authorized website when you apply for your government credit report.

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