An essential part of your financial “To-Do” list is reviewing a copy of your credit report on a regular basis.
Thanks to the federal government’s Fair Credit Reporting Act, you can request a copy of your credit report from each of the 3 major credit reporting bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union) every 12 months. These copies are FREE for the asking. My recommended strategy to obtain your free report? Utilize the “4-4-4 method”.
Instead of requesting your credit report once per year from all 3 credit bureaus, choose a single credit reporting bureau and request your credit report . 4 months later, ask credit reporting bureau #2 for their report on you. 4 months after requesting your information from credit reporting bureau #2, request your report from credit reporting company #3.
It doesn’t matter which credit reporting bureau you begin with. The goal is to receive your credit report 3 times per year. Because each credit reporting bureau records information differently, it is extremely common for 1, 2 or all 3 of your credit reports to have mistakes.
This is extremely important because 1 out of 5 consumers (according to the Federal Trade Commission) have an error on their credit report. These errors can and often will adversely affect your chances of obtaining credit.
You can obtain FREE copies of your credit report at: annualcreditreport.com or by calling 1-877-322-8228.