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Free Credit Reports Mark First Anniversary

By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com

September 19, 2006

Plastic Prison • Credit Tips And Tricks • Get Control of What You Owe • No Easy Way Out Of Credit Card Debt • Penalty Fees, Interest Rate Hikes, and Misleading Contracts Await Credit Card Shoppers • "Convenience Checks" Carry a Heavy Price Tag • New Forms of Credit Scoring • Understanding Credit • Credit Bureaus: Who You're Dealing With • Reading Your Credit Report • Credit Scoring: The Fickleness of FICO • Credit Knowledge: A Long, Hard, Struggle --- News • House to Hold Hearings on Credit Card Interchange Fees • Confronting a 'Culture Of Debt' • Feds Back Tighter Credit, Debit Card Rules • Director Takes Aim at Banks in New Film, 'Overdrawn!' • Floating Due Date Snags Chase, Citibank Customers • Congress Takes On Credit Card Interchange Fees • Consumers Lobby Congress to End Credit Card Abuses • Congress Takes On Credit Card Abuses • Credit Counselors Go Risque With their Message • Credit Card Debt Climbs Worldwide • As Credit Delinquency Rises, So Does Credit Relief Scrutiny • Congress Calls Out Credit Card Companies • College Students Warned Against Credit Card Trap • High-Fee, Low-Credit Charge Cards Prey Upon the Poor • Senate Bill Would Curb Abusive Credit Card Practices • Fed Proposes Tighter Controls On Credit Card Rates • Senate Panel Slams Abusive Credit Card Practices • Congress Targets Credit Card Companies For Reform • Report Finds High Debit Card Overdraft Fees • Bank, ATM Fees Continue To Rise • Credit Card Fees Rise, Disclosure Statements Inadequate • Free Credit Reports Mark First Anniversary • Credit Card Debt Sinking Many Older Consumers • Experian Launches New Credit Score; Critics Unimpressed • Credit Cards Target Students • Credit Card Companies Fear "Perfect Storm" • Credit Bureaus Introduce New Scoring System • More Banks Using Universal Default to Hike Interest Rates

It was a year ago this month that the three major credit bureaus were required to roll out a free annual credit report to all Americans.

The program is far from perfect. If you need to request more than one copy of your report over the course of the year, you must pay for the additional copies.

You are also entitled to a free copy of your report if you've been denied credit or a loan as a result of "adverse action."

Unfortunately, consumers must still pay for an even more important bit of information -- their credit scores.

Credit scores are used extensively throughout many industries and businesses to gauge a customer's credit worthiness.

Many hopeful borrowers can be turned down or approved for credit simply on basis of their credit scores, even if the lender doesn't access a credit report.

Nevertheless, the ability to access free credit reports is a quantum leap beyond the days when many consumers had no idea how to get a copy of their credit report.

How It Works

To get a copy of your free annual credit report, you can:

• Call 877-322-8228

• Visit www.annualcreditreport.com

• File a written request for your report to:

Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281

If you order yours online, be careful! The credit agencies have designed their sites to make it easy to order all kinds of extra services that will cost you dearly. You need to decline all the extras -- usually by clicking on drab and unobtrusive links instead of the big, bright ones that will sign you up for who-knows-what.

When ordering your free credit report, you can actually get up to three -- one from each of the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union.

Hint: Don't order all three reports at once, but stagger them at four-month intervals over the course of the year. This enables you to track changes to your credit, and how different bureaus record -- or don't record -- your data.

AnnualCreditReport.com is the only authorized Web site that provides free credit reports. Sites such as FreeCreditReport.com, owned by ConsumerInfo.com. a subsidiary of the Experian credit agency, are notorious for claiming to offer free reports, and then luring customers into paid services.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined ConsumerInfo.com $950,000 in August 2005 for deceptive marketing of its "free" credit reports, and mandated that the company provide clearer disclosure of what customers were really signing up for when they used the service.

For More Information

• FTC Credit Web Site The FTC's site explains how to get and use your credit report, how to identify and dispute errors, and your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

• Escape From The Plastic Prison ConsumerAffairs.com's in-depth study on credit cards, credit scoring, and how credit can be used and abused.

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