Credit Report

About Annual Credit Report

It is important to have knowledge of what is contained in your credit history. This is because lenders will always use this information in deciding whether to advance you credit card credit and the rate of interest you will be charged. Knowledge of your credit status can therefore make you huge savings when it comes to applying for credit card credit, a mortgage or even a loan.

Since your credit history will also contain key, personal and defining information about you, such as your employment, social security number or even public records that might show you as having being bankrupted etc., there is good reason as to why you should know what is recorded in your credit history file.

In addition to the above, your report will also show all recent inquiries that have been made regarding your credit history and standing. This means that each time you apply for a loan, a mortgage etc., the lender will request a copy of your credit history report. Each request is then noted as an inquiry against your credit history.

Getting a copy of your annual credit report will enable you to monitor your own credit transactions/activities, in addition to alerting you to any inquiries that might suggest possible fraudulent activities being committed against you.

To get a copy of your free report is a pretty straight forward process. It is a requirement of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) that each of the 3 reporting companies - i.e. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion provide you with a free copy of your report every year, upon request.

Your Right To Order Your Free Reports

If you use any form of credit, in law, you are entitled to order one free copy of your credit history data from each of the 3 consumer credit reporting companies every 12 months.

To protect your rights, (FCRA) and the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act established the free annual credit report system (US). Uk residents have a statutory right under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, to access their free credit history reports Uk. from a central, official website set up by credit reporting agencies.

You can order your free annual report from the three consumer credit reporting agencies via their central website, a mailing address or toll-free telephone.

It is recommended that you order your credit card report from all three nationwide consumer reporting companies, since each will obtain credit information on you from a number of different sources. As a consequence, the nature and/or the amount of credit information held on you may differ from company to company.

You have the option of either ordering your reports from each of the 3 consumer reporting companies at once, or alternatively, you may order singular copies one at a time.

It is also recommended that you always obtain a copy of your reports prior to making any application for credit, card credit, a loan or mortgage just to be sure that everything is in order and there is no adverse credit information lodged on your credit file. For this reason some people find it a good idea to stagger the ordering of their reports throughout the year.

In certain situations also, you are entitled to another free report in the event your ability to obtain credit has been adversely affected by the actions of a company with whom you have applied for credit. These include instances such as where: