If you're tired of all the bullsh*t "free credit report" offers companies make while trying to lure you into an ONGOING FEE BASED CREDIT MONITORING SERVICE, residents of Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Vermont are legally entitled to ONE FREE COPY PER YEAR of their Personal Credit Report FROM EACH OF THE 3 CREDIT BUREAUS (actually Georgia residents are entitled to TWO free copies per year).
Under the following circumstances, NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE, you're entitled to a FREE CREDIT REPORT as well:
[*]If you are unemployed and plan to seek employment within 60 days (some of you probably qualify for this)
[*]If you are on public welfare assistance
[*]If you have reason to believe your file contains inaccurate information due to fraud
[*]If you have been the subject of an adverse decision, such as denial of credit, insurance or employment within the past 60 days
The all important question then is, how do you get your 100% FREE credit report from each of the 3 Bureaus?
Since I just went through this exercise, the rest of you can benefit from my leg work:
[*]Equifax - Free Credit Report Request Information (800) 685-1111
[*]Experian - Free Credit Report Request Information (866) 200 6020
[*]TransUnion - Free Credit Report Request Information (800) 888-4213
Note: The only way I've found to order FREE CREDIT REPORTS from the above bureaus WITHOUT SIGNING UP FOR ANY TRIAL SERVICE is to call the TOLL FREE #'s provided in the links above (which I've also listed next to each link). All 3 bureaus have easy to use automated systems for requesting your credit report. It should take you 5-10 minutes to complete all 3 requests. You will receive each credit report via US MAIL after successfully completing each bureau's automated phone process.
P.S. If this is a repost, sorry. If not, enjoy!
03/10/2003 (expanded 03/11/2003) - Experian Update:
Once you receive your US MAILED Experian credit report, using Experian's on-line "dispute" process (whether or not you actually have something to dispute), you can view your credit report ON-LINE for FREE:
[*]Link to Experian's on-line dispute page
[*]Note: You'll need to enter the "REPORT #" from your US MAILED credit report to activate this capability
[*]This method of checking your credit report doesn't appear to show up as credit inquiry on your credit report. Don't quote me on this one though as I'm not 100% certain of this yet. I'll try testing this theory out over the next few days for verification. *EDIT* Personal Credit Report inquiries do not show up on Consumer Credit Reports (i.e. the reports that lenders, etc. obtain). Thus, you can view your Personal Credit Report as often as you want!
[*]A credit inquiry conducted on my credit report AFTER I received my US MAILED report showed up in my on-line credit report via this method. Stated another way, even though I entered the "REPORT #" from my US MAILED credit report, I was presented with newer information in my ON-LINE credit report (information which didn't exist when I requested my US MAILED credit report).
[*]Thus, this appears to be a very slick method for checking the latest version of your credit report for FREE, hopefully without incremeting your credit inquiry count, as often as you'd like, and at your convenience!
I don't know if Equifax and TransUnion have similar such capabilities as I haven't yet received those reports.
03/11/2003 (early AM) - Experian & Equifax update:
[*]When you call the Experian 866 # to request your Credit Report, if successful you'll receive a CONFIRMATION #. That CONFIRMATION # is your Experian "REPORT #." Thus, you can use the method listed above to access your ON-LINE CREDIT REPORT immediately! (Thanks to bobofoosh for the discovery!)
[*]According to bobofoosh, Equifax's on-line dispute capabilities don't give you full access to your Equifax credit report.
03/11/2003 (evening) - Equifax & TransUnion update:
[*]Neither of these bureaus apparently have "back door" methods like Experian's to view your complete Personal Credit Report on-line for FREE.
[*]Equifax's ON-LINE "dispute" process is however somewhat useful. It displays a list showing your PERSONAL INFORMATION (NAME, DOB, and any FORMER ADDRESSES) as well as ALL OF YOUR CREDITORS. The nice part about this list is that it shows the FULLY EXPANDED NAMES of each CREDITOR. The US MAILED credit report tends to truncate names of (some) CREDITORS.
[*]TransUnion's on-line dispute process is the least "informative" of all 3. You can't pull up any of your existing CREDIT REPORT info on-line; however, you can dispute items on your credit report so long as you have a copy of it.
[*]Equifax's Dispute Page (https://www.econsumer.equifax.com/eisc)
[*]TransUnion's Dispute Page (www.transunion.com/investigate)
Note: If you requested your CREDIT SCORE as part of your FREE TransUnion Credit Report, they do indeed provide it (at no additional charge).
Under the following circumstances, NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE, you're entitled to a FREE CREDIT REPORT as well:
[*]If you are unemployed and plan to seek employment within 60 days (some of you probably qualify for this)
[*]If you are on public welfare assistance
[*]If you have reason to believe your file contains inaccurate information due to fraud
[*]If you have been the subject of an adverse decision, such as denial of credit, insurance or employment within the past 60 days
The all important question then is, how do you get your 100% FREE credit report from each of the 3 Bureaus?
Since I just went through this exercise, the rest of you can benefit from my leg work:
[*]Equifax - Free Credit Report Request Information (800) 685-1111
[*]Experian - Free Credit Report Request Information (866) 200 6020
[*]TransUnion - Free Credit Report Request Information (800) 888-4213
Note: The only way I've found to order FREE CREDIT REPORTS from the above bureaus WITHOUT SIGNING UP FOR ANY TRIAL SERVICE is to call the TOLL FREE #'s provided in the links above (which I've also listed next to each link). All 3 bureaus have easy to use automated systems for requesting your credit report. It should take you 5-10 minutes to complete all 3 requests. You will receive each credit report via US MAIL after successfully completing each bureau's automated phone process.
P.S. If this is a repost, sorry. If not, enjoy!
03/10/2003 (expanded 03/11/2003) - Experian Update:
Once you receive your US MAILED Experian credit report, using Experian's on-line "dispute" process (whether or not you actually have something to dispute), you can view your credit report ON-LINE for FREE:
[*]Link to Experian's on-line dispute page
[*]Note: You'll need to enter the "REPORT #" from your US MAILED credit report to activate this capability
[*]This method of checking your credit report doesn't appear to show up as credit inquiry on your credit report. Don't quote me on this one though as I'm not 100% certain of this yet. I'll try testing this theory out over the next few days for verification. *EDIT* Personal Credit Report inquiries do not show up on Consumer Credit Reports (i.e. the reports that lenders, etc. obtain). Thus, you can view your Personal Credit Report as often as you want!
[*]A credit inquiry conducted on my credit report AFTER I received my US MAILED report showed up in my on-line credit report via this method. Stated another way, even though I entered the "REPORT #" from my US MAILED credit report, I was presented with newer information in my ON-LINE credit report (information which didn't exist when I requested my US MAILED credit report).
[*]Thus, this appears to be a very slick method for checking the latest version of your credit report for FREE, hopefully without incremeting your credit inquiry count, as often as you'd like, and at your convenience!
I don't know if Equifax and TransUnion have similar such capabilities as I haven't yet received those reports.
03/11/2003 (early AM) - Experian & Equifax update:
[*]When you call the Experian 866 # to request your Credit Report, if successful you'll receive a CONFIRMATION #. That CONFIRMATION # is your Experian "REPORT #." Thus, you can use the method listed above to access your ON-LINE CREDIT REPORT immediately! (Thanks to bobofoosh for the discovery!)
[*]According to bobofoosh, Equifax's on-line dispute capabilities don't give you full access to your Equifax credit report.
03/11/2003 (evening) - Equifax & TransUnion update:
[*]Neither of these bureaus apparently have "back door" methods like Experian's to view your complete Personal Credit Report on-line for FREE.
[*]Equifax's ON-LINE "dispute" process is however somewhat useful. It displays a list showing your PERSONAL INFORMATION (NAME, DOB, and any FORMER ADDRESSES) as well as ALL OF YOUR CREDITORS. The nice part about this list is that it shows the FULLY EXPANDED NAMES of each CREDITOR. The US MAILED credit report tends to truncate names of (some) CREDITORS.
[*]TransUnion's on-line dispute process is the least "informative" of all 3. You can't pull up any of your existing CREDIT REPORT info on-line; however, you can dispute items on your credit report so long as you have a copy of it.
[*]Equifax's Dispute Page (https://www.econsumer.equifax.com/eisc)
[*]TransUnion's Dispute Page (www.transunion.com/investigate)
Note: If you requested your CREDIT SCORE as part of your FREE TransUnion Credit Report, they do indeed provide it (at no additional charge).