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It has been made mandatory for the three major credit bureaus to provide a free credit report to the consumers in 13 western states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. That comes as good news to the residents of these states, but the other states still have to wait a while before the law encompasses them as well. Another catch in the story is that the number of
free credit reports is restricted to just one.That's definitely an improvement from the times when all credit reports had to be paid for. The three credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax: would allow a free credit report only if there was some sort of trouble with your credit, such as if you were denied credit. Then you would submit a copy of the rejection letter, various identity proofs and a written request, followed by a long waiting period of 4-6 weeks before you actually received the credit report.
But thanks to the new law, all you need to do now is visit the recognized website, or call the specified phone number, or mail a request to avail a free credit report. But the other states, at least for now, pay for their credit reports. But the good news for them is that there are plans to gradually phase all the other regions into the gamut of the law for free credit report. By September 2005, consumers anywhere in the United States would be able to access free credit reports from the three bureaus.
Until that happens, consumers in eastern states will have to make do with the Internet, but the idea of accessing credit reports on the Internet gives some people the jitters, since you have to submit your social security number. But at least you are getting a free credit report! If you go for any long-term analysis of your credit, they are likely to impose some service charges on you. But for a one time access it's rare for a website to charge you anything.
Sometimes you might inadvertently end up with more than you bargained for. Many websites use free credit reports as bait to get you to sign up for services you may not even want. For instance, they might sign you up for their credit monitoring service. It would seem harmless and look all right on the surface, what with the word free added at the end of it. But the service is free only as long as it's smooth sailing for your credit. But once a hitch crops up, they would offer to fix it for a fee. This free monitoring service could be quite a baggage if anything negative were to happen to your credit. They would offer to dispute it, but at a cost. You would much rather do it yourself for free.
All of these websites procure your credit information from one of the three major credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Whenever you seek a free credit report from any of these websites, it would come from whichever of the three bureaus the website is linked to.
And if you are not really satisfied with your credit report on one website, you need not run helter-skelter to come with a more satisfactory report. The credit report would stay the same, notwithstanding what agency or website you try. The only way to fix your credit report is by improving your credit status with proper thrift and caution. And the availability of free credit reports would definitely help you along the way.
It is imperative that you carefully go through all the terms and conditions of the website, before you sign up for a free credit report from them. You don't really want to get trapped with any unwanted services that might form a part of the deal. Rather than falling into such a predicament, it would be better to pay one of the bureaus for your credit report.
