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August 29, 2005

Credit Reports for Free, for Real

There are a lot of companies that will offer you a free credit report only to suck you in to spending money. What they don't want you to know (and what Flexo just reminded me of) is that credit reporting agencies in the U.S. are now required by law to provide you with a free credit report once per year.

They've been phasing the program in over the U.S. for the past year, starting with the West coast last December (which is when I got mine), and finishing on the East cost officially September 1, though it is rumored that you can already get your report a little early (anyone on the East coast care to verify?). The site is www.annualcreditreport.com.

Regularly reviewing your credit report is important for a variety of reasons, not the least of which are checking for signs of identity theft and just staying in touch with your financial situation. Flexo is spacing out his requests to each of the three credit reporting agencies so that he gets one free report every four months -- I think that's a great idea.

Posted by Frank at August 29, 2005 12:09 PM

Comments

Yes, it works on the East Coast.

Posted by: Lou
at August 29, 2005 4:02 PM

| think the site is not accessible by those living outside the US...(although I am a US citizen.) Can anyone verify this for me?

Posted by: Robin
at August 30, 2005 12:09 AM

i should be pointed out that many inquiries into credit your report over a short amount of time can actually harm your credit.

Posted by: hubs
at August 30, 2005 8:11 AM

Robin: I can't tell, since I'm in the US, but if anyone else outside the US can check the site and see if it works for them, it would be appreciated.

Hubs: That's true if you're authorizing other companies to access your report, however checking your own credit report will never count against you.

From: http://www.experian.com/credit_score_basics/improve_credit_score.html
"Review your credit report regularly so you know what is being reported. It won't affect your score to request and check your own credit report."

Posted by: Frank
at August 30, 2005 8:34 AM

I'm in Tokyo. Cannot access the site, and I have tried on two different occasions.

Posted by: Reality Bites
at September 5, 2005 9:51 AM

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