Free Three Bureau Credit Report

There are three major credit reporting bureaus that can offer you a free credit report. They are Experian, Equifax, and Transunion, and all can be found easily online. These three bureaus provide credit reports to everyday consumers, but, unfortunately, you are only entitled to have one credit report for free.

In 2003, the Federal Government passed the FACT Act that allows for all Americans to have access to one free credit report each year. That means that in order to get a credit report from the three bureaus, one of them will be free, and the other two you will have to pay for.

Why bother to get a credit report from all three bureaus when only one is free? The answer is simple. Businesses and creditors are not required to report to all three of the credit bureaus. They are not legally required to report to any of them if they don’t want to. However, most companies will report to at least one of the three credit bureaus.

If you are serious about either keeping good credit or improving your bad credit, you as a consumer should request first your free credit report and then buy the other two so that you have a credit report from all three credit bureaus. The reason is given above. You want to have a full and clear picture of where you stand when it comes to credit, so getting a credit report from all three bureaus is just a responsible thing to do.

Once you receive your free credit report from at least one of the three bureaus, you will want to take some time to go over it and make sure that the information is accurate. Even one mistake on your credit report can make a difference in your overall credit score and could get you denied for a line of credit or a loan.

If you do find a mistake, you need to report it right away. Usually, there will be a link on the websites where you can go to so you can at least alert them to the error. After that, you will have to provide written documentation to them that the account is a mistake and they will review your request. Once they decide, if it is indeed a mistake, it will be removed from your report immediately.

To recap, you can get one free credit report from any of the three bureaus in charge of credit reporting. To get reports from the other two, you will be charged a small fee, but in the long run, it will be well worth the money to protect your credit.

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