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Getting and Reading Your Credit Report

Last Updated - May 29, 2010

You have started on the road to credit repair! There are many in's and out's of repairing your credit and we are here to help you on this journey to financial freedom. The following questions are the most common questions we get from clients. We hope these answers help you, but if not, we are just a phone call away.

• Can I get a free copy of my own credit report?
• How much does my credit report cost?
• What is the contact information for the three credit bureaus?
• What information should I provide when requesting a report?
• What are all those codes on my credit report?
• What are all those inquiries on my credit report?
• Can you provide any information on profit and loss charge offs?
• Who makes sure that the credit laws are enforced?

Yes! There are many ways to get a free copy of your credit report.

All credit bureaus are required to give out one free credit report per year. You can order your free annual credit report online at www.annualcreditreport.com, by calling 877-322-8228, or by completing the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mailing it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. When you order, you need to provide your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth. To verify your identity, you may need to provide some information that only you would know, like the amount of your monthly mortgage payment.

Note: The Credit Bureaus are not required to give out your credit score for free.

If you want to order your score in addition to your free report, it's about $5.95 per bureau. The free reports are good for 30 days only, so make sure you print your reports if you get them online. The other thing is that if you do any credit disputes after pulling your free report, the credit bureaus have 45 days instead of 30 days to pull your credit reports. Nothing is ever really free, is it? This could mean the difference, in all seriousness, in getting a deletion because of the extra time they have to "investigate". If you want to avoid all this hassle, you can get your credit report, score PLUS free credit report monitoring/analysis tools by ordering your credit reports here.

Beware! There are some web sites out there who are posing as the free annual credit report site who are engaged in fraudulent activities.

What if I've already gotten my free report for the year?

There are exceptions to this one-per-consumer-per-year rule.

• If you are turned down for credit, employment, or insurance within the last 60 days. Mail a copy of the written proof of your turn down to the credit bureaus, requesting your free report.
• If you were charged higher rates and fees or deposits based on a credit report issued by a credit bureau, you have the right to get a free copy from that bureau.
• If you certify in writing that either you are unemployed and plan to seek employment in the next 60 days.
• If you are on welfare.
• If you write to say you were a victim of fraud.
• If you are too impatient to wait for this, you can always order your credit report online. Get all three credit bureau's information in ordering your credit reports one merged report.

A separate key or explanation should be included with the report you receive. Sit down and spend some time with it. If you gave it an honest try and it still seems like Sanskrit, you might ask a trusted friend to go over it with you. Or someone in your personnel office at work, or the dean of students office at your school, or behind the railing at your bank, might be willing to help you. (It's not their job to do this, so remember that you're asking a favor. You may be charged a fee.) You can also get help by reading our info on Decoding Credit Reports.

Whenever you or anyone else asks for a copy of your credit report, the request is supposed to be noted as part of your credit history. If you apply for lots of credit cards in a short time, this will produce a flurry of "inquiry" notes on your credit report. Lenders often turn this around and assume that a flurry of inquiries means you've recently applied for lots of credit, so they turn you down on that basis even though the inference is not strictly valid.

If a lender cites "excessive inquiries" as a reason for turning you down, this is what has happened. The lender has guidelines for how many inquiries in what period of time is too many. Unfortunately, you have no legal right to challenge this policy or even to know what the specific criteria may be.

Don't give your name or address to a merchant until you're actually ready to apply for credit there. Some merchants illegally run credit checks on you as soon as they have your name and address, even though you have not applied for credit, to give them an idea of what to sell you and how.

If lender A sees inquiries from B, C, and D but no new accounts, A may assume that B, C, and D turned you down for credit. Figuring "better safe than sorry," A may then turn you down just because it assumes B, C, and D turned you down. Again, this is a judgment call on the part of A, and you have no legal right to challenge it. If you have not applied for any credit recently but have been, say, looking at cars at several dealerships, you might want to let the lender know this in case it's taking unauthorized inquiries into account. Also, see our information on how to remove inquiries from your credit report.

Profit and loss charge offs are used most often by credit card companies. They write the debt off on their books as uncollectable rather than spending time and lawyer's fees to collect them. Charge offs are considered a serious black mark on your credit report. Only bankruptcy and foreclosure are worse. For more information on profit and loss chargeoffs, read this.

The Federal Trade Commission, (FTC #202-326-2222) is responsible for enforcing federal credit laws.

The other important governmental body is YOU! The credit bureaus are FOR PROFIT companies and they don't do a good job (in this author's opinion) of following the few laws which exist. Don't be afraid to fight back! They are counting on public fear and inaction. Here is a good list of agencies to call or write.