Nowadays, it seems very easy to get ahold of your credit score (your FICO score). I know that I can easily access mine through several of my credit cards. Back in the day, you had to pay to get your score, so this is great.
But there’s more to the credit report than your credit score. In the United States, federal law allows each person to receive a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). And they’ve made it easy: Just go to AnnualCreditReport.com to see your credit reports. You can get one, two or all three reports in a single session.
Even if you know you have a high credit score, it’s a good idea to check out your credit report at least once a year to make sure it’s accurate. Credit reports can reveal errors and also expose identity theft.
Items listed on your credit report include
- Bill payment history
- Current debt
- Loans
- Bankruptcy history
- Lawsuit records
In preparation for writing this post, I checked my own credit report from each of the credit bureaus. I was happy to see that although I have a freeze on my credit (which prevents others from checking my credit report without my permission) that didn’t stand in the way of my accessing my own credit report. I’m glad I checked: to my surprise there is another social security number associated with my name in one of the bureaus. The report itself revealed no problems, thank goodness, but first thing tomorrow I plan to call Experian to find out what’s going on. (The U.S. government offers some advice on credit reports and scores, as well as on disputing problems in the credit report.) ETA: I called Experian and was told (after being transferred twice) that the erroneous SSN was a mistake and did not affect my credit. They removed it from the personal information section of my credit report.
In the U.S., checking your credit report is free and easy. And it doesn’t take long. If it’s been more than a year since you checked yours, I urge you to do so! If you want to keep an eye on your credit report throughout the year, you can consider requesting your report from one of the bureaus every four months.
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