All About Credit Cards

For years before FACT (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act) became law, you could exercise your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to obtain a credit report. However, that law allowed the three major credit-reporting companies, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax – to charge a reasonable fee in most cases. Because Congress feared that even a small fee would deter consumers from regularly checking their credit reports, FACT changed the law to allow consumers free access to their credit information.

Under FACT, you can request a free credit report from each of the three credit-reporting companies every year. How you choose to time your request for your credit information is up to you, so you have a couple options in how you monitor your credit reports. If you get all three of your credit reports at the same time, you can compare them to make sure that each has consistent information about your credit. On the other hand, if you choose to request your credit reports one at a time and spread them out evenly, then you can keep an eye on your credit information throughout the year without ever having to pay for a report.

To facilitate requests for free credit reports, the three credit-reporting companies established a website for consumers to use. Unfortunately, a number of other websites with similar names that are unaffiliated with the major credit reporting companies use the promise of free credit reports to gather potential customers for additional credit-monitoring services, for which they collect fees. The official website will give you your full credit report without asking you to sign up for an ongoing service or pay any money.

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