Personal Credit Reports: How to Get Them for Free

Your personal credit report tells lenders everything they need to know to help them decide whether to lend money or extend credit to you. Do you know what is on your personal credit report?

Are you certain that your personal credit report is accurate? These and other questions must be answered before you apply for credit or take out a loan. Without that information handy, you may end up paying too much for your car loan, mortgage, credit card, and more.

Worse, you could get rejected altogether and for no good reason. Today, you can get your personal credit report at no cost and I am going to show you how to do just that.

The U.S. Free Credit Report Act has proven to be a real blessing for consumers. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which is the government agency tasked with helping consumers, has established through this act that you can get copies of your personal credit report at no cost. Through the three major credit reporting bureaus - Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union - you are entitled to receive a copy of you personal credit report annually from each bureau.

These three bureaus have "all the goods" on you so to speak. If you were late with a car payment and that information has been passed on to the credit bureaus, it becomes part of your personal credit report. At the same time, if someone with a name similar to yours went bankrupt, that information could erroneously be put in your report.

Unfortunately, you may not find this information out until after you apply for credit. Sure, you can correct the problem, but it could take weeks to resolve and delay you from getting a loan. That can be a real problem if you need credit now!

Consumer watchdogs are urging everyone to get copies of their personal credit reports annually. Some are suggesting that consumers space their reports out to one ever four months from the three different agencies.

For example, in January you would order one from Experian, in May from Equifax, and in September from Trans Union. Come the following January, you would order a report from Experian and start the process over again.

You really need to see all three credit reports as they are not uniform. One bureau may have one piece of information about you, while another something else. Your goals are to make certain that all the information in your personal credit report is accurate. If not, then you must take action to amend each error.

In addition to your personal credit report, it is recommended that from time to time you also get your FICO score. Your FICO score is the "grade" that creditors use to determine exactly what your loan rate will be.

Your FICO score isn't free, however only a nominal fee of approximately $5 to $7 will be charged should you choose to order it.

Are you ready to find out more about ordering your personal credit reports? If so, visit the FTC site for more information: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/freereports.htm. Click on the appropriate link to go to the proper site and order a copy of your personal credit report today!

To get a complementary step-by-step easy to follow credit repair video and instruction manual that will show you how to increase your credit score by 50 to 100 points in 30 days, visit:

http://www.mortgage-leads-generator.com/credit.htm

Please feel free to reprint this article as long as the resource box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.

About the author:

Hartley Pinn has recently created the Mortgage Leads Generator Training Course to teach people how to make over $50,000 a month working part-time (10 to 15 hrs per week) as a mortgage loan officer.

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