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Digital News Report – Americans are gearing up for summer purchases and this is the time to review credit reports. One negative factor on a credit record can cost the borrower money and may force the lender to deny the loan.
The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 gave citizens the right to one free credit report per year from the major reporting bureaus. Experts say to get a report from Experian, Transunion, Equifax and Innovis. Those are the four major credit reporting agencies.
The agencies will mail the reports out for free. Check for errors and contest inaccuracies. Even an erroneous address added to a credit record can cause a problem. Lenders may scrutinize the inaccuracy and criminals may use an alternate address to exploit your credit and commit identity theft and fraud.
If you suspect fraud you can file a fraud alert. But be careful, this will force the agencies to disclose the alert to anyone reviewing your credit history.
Three of the credit reporting agencies have tried to make things easier. Rather than requesting a report from each agency individually, one website can handle them all. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion credit reports can be acquired from annualcreditreport.com. This service is still free.
Reports typically do not include a credit score. Some agencies will provide a free credit score with a subscription to their service.
By Tina Brown