As per the credit report mandate by the government,every US citizen is entitled to get one free credit report from all the leading credit agencies, namely Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. Subsequent credit report requests are chargeable.[br]
Credit Report – Gov (Government) Mandated: Request Application
The process of applying for the credit report is simple. One needs to log on to www.annualcreditreport.com for requesting credit reports from different credit agencies. One should ideally stay away from trial period based free reports, as most consumers fail to cancel the subscription at the end of the free trial period and end up paying a premium for the services.
One can apply for all three credit reports in one go or can stagger them. With the later approach, one can stay in touch with the credit history through the year.
Credit Report – Gov (Government) Mandated: Consumer Tips
There are many areas that consumers should be cautious about to avoid falling victim to fraud. Right from checking the spelling of the website’s URL to checking the security of the computer that is used, a consumer should focus on details, as even slight negligence could result in identity theft or charges on your card.[br]
Here are a few tips:
- Beware of imposter sites: There are many sites like aanualceditreport.com that display the right spellings, but have misspelled URLs.
- Never order through sites that ask for your credit card information. Chances are that they are fake.
- Try to avoid library or public computers for requesting credit reports. Unless manually cleared, the information a consumer enters in the request form stays in the computer and can be misused.
- Email is not necessary. Sites that ask for your email ID as an essential part of the process are usually lead generation sites or frauds. Do not disclose your personal information on such websites.
- Ask the credit agencies to mask the whole SSN but the last four digits.
- Always get your credit report mailed to a secure mail box.
- Try to retrieve copies of all the correspondence with the credit agencies. This way you maintain a database to refer to in case of any discrepancies.
Though the government’s credit report mandate offers a lot of convenience to consumers interested in knowing their credit history, the real onus lies on the consumers to ensure their security while applying for the credit report.
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