Get Your Annual Free Credit Report - Why Pay For It?

You can get an annual free credit report from any of the three major credit bureaus. If you have ever had credit, then there is a report on your borrowing and repaying at one of these bureaus - maybe all three. The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a law saying that every person is entitled to receive one annual free credit report once every twelve months from the credit bureaus. Annual credit reports are very important because they contain all of the information about your credit history - not just for the past year, but for at least 7 years. When you request an annual free credit report, the credit bureau is not allowed to charge you for the first report. However, if you request more than one report, then you have to pay for the others. There are many sites on the Internet that will charge you for a credit report. Therefore it is important to know that you do not have to pay for this service. By analyzing your annual free credit report once a year, you will have a clear idea of what your credit score is. Free annual credit reports will help you determine where your focus for the next year should be if you are looking to repair any bad credit items that appear on your report. If you have been denied credit and you think that it is unreasonable, then it would be in your best interest to request a free annual credit report. This is because with the amount of scams that exist, someone could be using your name to receive credit and then giving you a bad rating. If you are working on repairing bad credit that you have, an annual free credit report is enough to request. Credit scores do not raise overnight or because you made one payment on time. It takes at least a year to notice a marked increase, so you shouldn't pay for extra reports. When you receive your annual free credit report, you should carefully read all sections. All aspects of the credit report are included in computing a credit score, so you should pay attention to all of them. Check your address to make sure it is correct and compare the list of accounts to ensure that you have not missed any payments. The annual free credit report also contains a list of people or businesses that have requested credit information on you recently. You should also check this to see that all of these names are familiar to you. You don't need to pay, you can get an annual free credit report.