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Where to Get your Annual Credit Report

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Where Can I Get My Free Annual Credit Report?

This lens illustrates a number of ways to help you get your free annual credit report. Don't fall for the various annual credit report scams out there. There are legitimate ways to get your report for free and you can do the steps by yourself! Reasons why you should obtain your free annual credit report is to make sure there are no surprises when applying for a mortgage, auto loan or credit card. In addition, obtaining your credit report is a must if you suspect identity theft. Fight identity theft by monitoring and reviewing your credit report.

Where to Get Your Annual Credit Report

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2004 (source: www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/06/freeannual.shtm) issued its final ruling that everyone is entitled to one free credit report annually from all three of the credit reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax). Still, with the cottage industry of "free" offers of your credit report when it really isn't totally free have sprung up all over the internet. Hopefully this will clear up some of the mystery.

There are three sources of obtaining your free annual credit report.

The first one is at www.annualcreditreport.com. This is a site set up by the big three credit reporting agencies in the United States, to furnish free annual credit reports, as required by federal law. Beware of other sites that may look and sound similar. This is the ONLY authorized ONLINE source for you to get a free anuual report under federal law. Personally I found it to be a bit cumbersome but definitely fine for a lot of people.

The second way is through the mail but works great. If you go to www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/include/requestformfinal.pdf you can download the Annual Credit Report Request Form, fill it out and mail it in to the address specified on the form. You'll get your reports back generally within 2-3 weeks.

The third way is to contact 877-322-8228, which is a number to the FTC to request for your Annual Credit Report.

You can refer to www.ftc.gov/freereports to get updated information as necessary. However the information above is current.

How easy is that? No cost, no obligation and completely confidential.