Before you get started to submit the application form for the free annual credit report, make sure that you are aware of the following facts. There are lots of scams around and it is important that you don’t fall into this prey and your confidential information fallen into the wrong hands.

You must be beware of people trying to cheat you. The only website that can generate free annual credit reports is annualcreditreport.com and it is affiliated with the Federal Trade Commission. Any other website that says that they can issue a free credit report copy is a lie. Be careful because they might turn out to be fake and fraudulent who are on the look for your personal information. Beware of any emails or people who are calling you claiming to be from the consumer credit reporting companies.

If you see that your credit report is showing some kind of error in the data reported, don’t hesitate to contact the bureau reporting the error and have them fix it. It is your right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act that your credit report must show your accurate credit history. After you have disputed an item on your credit copy, the credit bureau will run an investigation with the information provider and verify the details. The information provider will check in their system and verify the information reported and the results will be forwarded to the credit bureau and then to the actual consumer who disputed the item. If your dispute is found to be correct, the credit bureau will issue another copy of your credit report completely free of cost and it will be delivered to your mailing address.

In cases, if you have disputed an item and it is not been fixed by the credit bureau, ask them to attach a copy of your complaint in your file so that any company viewing your credit report will come to know that you disputed an item but, for some reasons, it was not fixed by the information provider. There is a 100 word limit within which you can explain the case that you think is questionable. The creditors viewing your credit copy will not make wrong decisions because of the error.

Your credit report is not accessible to everyone. It can only be requested by your creditors, insurance company, employer or any other financial institution. But you need to give a written approval to the credit bureau before they can send your file to your employer.

These are some of the important facts that you must know about your annual credit report. It is one of the prestigious financial documents and it shows out your credit level and the amount of money that can be borrowed along with the debts to be paid back. Everyone should be very careful with their personal information so as to avoid an identity theft or any other serious issues.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 6:43 pm and is filed under Credit, Credit Repair. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.