The outcome of many top priority life issues may be impacted by information provided by the nations three mainstream consumer reporting agencies; Equifax, Experian and Transunion.Credit scores and credit reporting historically were established for use by the loan industry to analyze credit worthiness for a proposed loan. In addition to the traditional use by the lending industry, credit scores now affect many areas of our lives. Credit reports provide information to prospective employers, lessors of real estate and the insurance industry, to name a few. Maintaining good credit scores and assuring accurate reporting of your credit should be a priority, as it can have a material effect on decisions in these critical areas and potentially save you money. The Federal Trade Commission is the major governing body of consumer reporting agencies. The Fair Credit Reporting Act provides you annual access to your credit report from all three of the mainstream consumer bureaus at no cost. You may request your free credit report from each of the three agencies annually. This is the easiest way to monitor what the three bureaus are reporting on you. This information can dramatically affect your ability to obtain a loan, get the best rate on a loan, acquire insurance, find employment in certain industries and access leased real estate.To receive your annual report, you can request your reports online at annualcreditreport.com; call 877-322-8228 or mail your request to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta GA 30348-5281. Your reports are free and can also be ordered one at a time every 12 months. If every four months, you request your report from a different agency such that there is a 12-month period between your requests for one particular agency, you can cover your review of your credit as reported for an entire year for free. For example, you could establish a schedule in which you order a report from Equifax each January, from Experian each May and from Transunion each September.Only reports initiated by you through the FCRA Annual Credit Report website, phone or mail are part of the FCRA access provisions. Under the regulation, the Annual Credit Report agency is prohibited from soliciting you. Beware of other sites that may claim to provide free credit reports. Private sites with electronic advertising and other means may have costs associated and/or could be a fraudulent site, with identity theft as a primary goal. You can also order your report directly from Experian, Equifax or Transunion at a cost (if you have already received your annual free report from that agency). If you think your credit is being reported incorrectly, the cost of a report may be a small investment with a big return.Credit report agencies gather information on you from a large variety of industries that furnish data to the agencies. The data includes but is not limited to lending performance. Debt collection agencies and court records with public information are also utilized. Your profile with these reporting agencies has an enormous impact on your life. Taking the responsibility to make sure reporting is accurate is important to you. In addition to protecting yourself from misreported information on legitimate accounts, taking charge of your credit report may also mean the difference in identifying fraudulent credit obtained using your identity; identifying collection cases that you may not even know were actively in collections or may also be fraudulent; and, in the case of common first and surnames, you may identify credit that is not yours but reported on your report due to a common name.What do you do when your report contains information that you believe is incorrect or fraudulent? I will visit this in a future edition. Today, take control of information that vitally affects important areas of your life and order a credit report to find out what the industry is saying about you.
