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Don’t Pay For Credit Reports

September 13th, 2006

I planned to write about the many “free” credit report scams, but MSNBC did it for me. The short version: Don’t ever pay for credit reports. You’re legally entitled to a free report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies once per year, but that doesn’t stop the sleazeballs from running TV commercials hoping to convince you otherwise. The one and only place to request your free reports is AnnualCreditReport.com. They’ll ask for a lot of personal information, but in this case (and only this case) it’s a legitimate free service run by the credit agencies and mandated by the government.

Also, if you discover anything incorrect in any of the three reports don’t hesitate to follow the company’s instructions for disputing it (usually possible entirely via their web sites). The burden is then on the creditor to prove that the item is correct, and if they can’t do so the error will eventually disappear from your credit report.

Entry Filed under: Tips