Who keeps Track of My Credit ?

There are three major privately owned credit bureaus that do the tracking. They track anyone with a social security number or a credit history. These firms are Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. It is possible to get your free credit report from these businesses thanks to the federal government. Knowing the importance of being able to check your credit report without having to pay for it caused U.S. legislators to pass a law that you were allowed to get a free credit report once a year.

Each of these three credit bureaus must provide you with a report but you must request it. Each of these bureaus keeps just about the same information with maybe a little difference in format and slight difference in the information recorded. When you apply for a loan, the lending institution will get a report from them regarding you financial transactions regarding loans for several years. Anytime you have been at least thirty (30) days late with a loan payment it is reported to these bureaus and is in your file.

When a lending institution checks your credit report and gets a copy from each of these bureaus, they have a pretty complete picture of your credit history. It is important for you to know what is in your file and that is why it is important to know how to obtain your free credit report.

To get your free credit report you can go online at www.annualcreditreport.com and request it or call 877-322-8228 and request it. You will not be able to get your credit score without paying a small fee but you will be able to get your free credit report. You are permitted to get one from each bureau every 12 months so if you request a free credit report from each of the three and request the report at different times during the year; you can get three per year.

You can get a credit report from web sights that advertise free credit reports but these are sometimes a little misleading. You can get a free credit report but you have to take a trial subscription to a credit monitoring service. You can cancel this subscription later but that is extra trouble when you can do it without subscribing to anything even on a trial basis.

The importance of knowing what is in your credit report is to make it easier for you to obtain a loan. There could be errors on your report, you will have an opportunity to get them corrected, and this will improve the opportunities you have of obtaining the loan. It also gives you the chance to know if there are items that could hurt you and you can prepare to explain why the report is negative.