In the World of Free Credit Reports,

There is Good News and Bad News.

The Good News is:

Yes, there is something for “free”! The Bad News? You will have to pay with time and frustration to get it.

This, unfortunately, is the game that credit bureaus will make you play to get those “free” credit reports.

Let me explain.

If you go to www.AnnualCreditReport.com you can get a free credit report once a year from all three credit bureaus. (This is a law mandated from Congress; otherwise, trust me, it would not be “free”. The credit bureaus are not magnanimous, as you will learn from trying to get your “free” credit report, although they do have this wonderful website.)

The Bad News is: it is extremely difficult to navigate.

The Good News? It does work.

Now, some warnings.

If you are asked for a credit card for your free report, you have navigated to a wrong page and you must back track to get to the right page. Usually it is at the bottom of the page to the left and says: “No Thanks, I just want my free credit report.” Click there and it will take you to the correct place without having to pay.

Now, for some fun.

You will have to identify yourself and prove that you are who you say you are. This is Good News.

The Bad News is that it can be difficult to remember the answers to security questions they ask.

For example they may ask for:
•    Former addresses
•    Account numbers of revolving or installment accounts
•    Past Mortgages info
•    Past Auto Loans info
It’s not too hard, but you will need to be prepared before you log on with account information, etc.

Also, once you have gotten into the website you will have to search for a way to print the file. It is small and kind of hidden but it will say something like: print this file, or printer friendly version. At this point, click the button and print out your report but be aware that you will need lots of paper and be sure your ink is up in the printer.

The credit bureaus make it as difficult to get this free credit report as possible so that you will not try to fight their policy of keeping incredible amounts of negative information on your credit file. After all, this is what makes them their billions of dollars each year.

So-

The Good News is: you will have a credit report that will have all your credit information on it, both personal and accounts. It will also have the inquiries you have done over the past two years.

The Bad News? It will also have a whole bunch of other stuff on it that is not yours.

Now to get to work and fix this mess….=o)

BTW:
There are other ways you can get a free credit report if you have already gotten one from this site. If you are applying for a job or been denied credit in the last 30 days, the credit bureaus are required to give you another credit report for free.

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