[jnieman]

I thought I'd share some info from the Consumer Advocate, Clark Howard. I have used this site for years for my free credit report. Not sure if all of you know about it. You can use it once per year.

1. Credit reports

Due to the passage of the 2003 Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA), all Americans are entitled to one free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion -- upon request every 12 months. There are several ways you can request yours, including online, by phone or by mail.

Online: Go to annualcreditreport.com. This is the ONLY site that's truly free. You'll need to provide your name, address, birth date and Social Security number.

Phone: (877)-322-8228

Mail: Complete the Annual Credit Report Request form and mail it to the following address:
Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281

[Sparty6971]

YES! That is the only site one should use for the annual report. It is free and you don't have to mail it via snail mail either. You can submit to the three credit reporting agencies via the web site above and get your report about as fast as your computer Internet line will let data move to and from you. And you can print it out if you want to (I do and then shred last years printed report). It is as safe as using your credit card to make a purchase from a "safe" web site like the major stores, Amazon, etc.

What I do is order only one report at a time. I put markers in the annual calendar or use your electronic calendar, whichever. Anyway, Request one (say Experian) in April, the next (say TransUnion) in August, and the third (say Equifax) in December. Keep track of the day you submit the request and just advance the appointment in your calendar by one year plus a day for the next free one by that company. By spacing them out every four months, you get a check of your credit history throughout the year rather than all three at the same month. The law is you get a free report from EACH company once a year so you don't need to do all at once.

Of course you will not get the free Credit Rating - to get that you must pay extra but unless you are really worried or are getting ready to buy a new car or another big ticket item on credit or a new house, it doesn't matter what your credit rating is. If you don't have any unfavorables in your credit history reports, the rating will at worse, stay the same or more likely will increase slightly year to year.

[CFrance]

Our Capital One Visa sends us our credit score monthly, at no charge. If anything changes, they will list it. If the score went down, I would use the free credit report you mention to find out why.

But I forgot where I put the web site you mentioned, jnieman. Thanks for posting.

[manaboutown]

Thank you for the reminder. It has been a while since I used that site and had forgotten its name.