Free Online Credit Report



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Free Online Credit Report

October 28th, 2007 by Shenron

A free online credit report; some people have no idea what this phrase can mean to their life. Poor credit can keep you from moving into a bigger house, buying a car, and unfortunately getting a job. If you have never accessed your free online credit report then you are doing yourself an injustice especially if you are continuously turned down for loans and credit cards. If this is you and you have no idea why, then the answers may lie in your credit report.

Whenever the word free is used, many people assume that there is a catch. There must be something more if it is free, right? Wrong. You are guaranteed under federal law to receive one free credit report per year from one of the three credit reporting agencies which are Experian, Transunion, and Equifax. There are no strings attached and these companies will not solicit you to sign up for their other services. In this situation, free is free. By not taking advantage of such a fantastic free offer, you are effectively handicapping your own ability to be successful financially.

You may think that if the free online credit report is truly free then, you probably do not get the entire report. Again this is a myth that needs to be dispelled. The free online credit report that you can receive by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com, is your complete credit report. It will contain all of your open credit accounts, which includes car, home, and school loans. It also contains closed accounts that you have had in the past seven years. The free online credit report will also show you all requests for your credit history, as well as, any names you have used and all of your past addresses.

The free online credit report will not contain your credit score. In order to get a hold of that all important credit score number, you will have to pay for it. This might seem like an unnecessary cost, but in reality, it is something that you need to invest in. Your credit score is an important number that will follow you around for the duration of your life. You need to know the number in order to know what to expect when you apply for something like a mortgage loan.

You may also think that the free online credit report will not entitle you to all the benefits of a paid credit report. This is absolutely false, as you will get many of the same benefits as the people who pay for their credit report on an annual basis. If you see something on your free online credit report that is inaccurate, such as an address or name, you may contact the issuing credit reporting agency to correct it. Should the inaccuracy be something a little more complex like a credit card you never had, then you can also dispute the claim.

If you find that some one has stolen your identity, you may call the issuing credit reporting agency and place a fraud alert on your report. This will let anyone who looks at your credit know that you did not commit all of the claims. By doing this, you can prevent damage to your credit score.

Maintaining your credit and credit history is important, as well as, easy to do with the free online credit report. It only takes a few minutes to obtain and look over it to ensure that everything is correct. By taking a few minutes out of your day once a year to do this, you will safeguard your credit which has become as important today as safeguarding other valuables.

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