Here is the contact information for the three major credit reporting agencies. This information is correct as of the time of this posting, but is of course subject to change by the agencies.

Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc
Address: P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374
Telephone: 1-888-766-0008
Online: www.equifax.com

TransUnion LLC Consumer Disclosure Center
Address: P.O. Box 1000
Chester, PA 19022
Telephone: 1-800-888-4213
Online: www.tuc.com

Experian National Consumer Assistance Center
Address: PO Box 2002
Allen, TX 75013
Telephone: 1-888-397-3742
Online: www.experian.com

We all know it’s a good idea to keep up with the information found in our credit reports, but who wants to pay extra money to do so? The truth is you can learn how to get a free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies, and the process is very simple. Learning how to get a free credit report is quite frankly a snap. The federal government requires each of the reporting agencies to provide anyone with a copy of their reports at least once every year. This means how to get a free credit report will involve only basic inquiries to the three agencies. This is generally done in writing to ensure you are who you say you are. Or, there are web sites available that can help consumers learn how to get a free credit report from all three agencies at once online and quite rapidly. 

No matter what route you go to apply the lessons learned in how to get a free credit report, remember to take care with your personal information. Make sure if going online to ensure a site that requests personal details like your Social Security number is secured and safe. How to get a free credit report is a very basic process, but the fact is it’s an important one. Knowing how to get a free credit report and actually doing so on a yearly basis can be vital to ensuring credit records are accurate and up to date.  (more…)

It seems like a mystery, a whimsical concoction of numbers that are cooked up to label a person, but what is a credit score any way? And, why would it matter? What is a credit score is a question that many people will find is very important to them the second they make an attempt to obtain a loan or a credit card. Unless a good understanding of what is a credit score is present, it’s very likely that mistakes will be made in obtaining and handling credit. This can result in a lower score, which is never good. 

To answer the question of what is a credit score, let’s take a look at the typical ratings. Every person who applies for credit is assigned a number that explains their likelihood of paying back a loan. What is a credit score cannot be fully answered without understanding a FICO number. This stands for Fair Isaac Company, which is an organization that researches the probability of loan repayment. The resulting number assigned to individuals is a credit score.  (more…)

Keeping up with your credit score is one of the most important things you can do to protect your financial well being. How to read a credit report will be a vital skill you will need to develop to do this, however. 

Before you can learn how to read a credit report, you will first need to know how to obtain one, commonly referred to as “pulling” one. Consumers can pull their reports from all three agencies – Experian, TransUnion and Equifax – once every 12 months. Learning how to read a credit report will follow the process of pulling the free reports. 

To get your reports and learn how to read a credit report, all you need to do is contact the three agencies and request the reports or visit the Internet and get the job done. There are sites out there that can help in pulling reports. While it may seem convenient to obtain a “combined” report that lists all three major agencies, we recommend pulling each agency report separately. 

Once you have your reports, you can begin learning how to read a credit report. The first thing you will want to do is separate out all three reports. Learn how to read a credit report from each agency, one at a time. Combined reports can sometimes present information in such a way that you will miss details that would be more apparent when viewing the reports seperately.  (more…)