How to Get All 3 Credit Reports in Your Hands in 30 Minutes For Free
Once you are ready to apply for a home loan check your credit before ‘they’ do. If there is any inaccurate or out of date information on your credit report, you will want to know about it before your lender does. You may be able to rectify some of the inaccuracies before they become a problem and cause a delay in your home buying process.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act, part of the FACT ACT requires credit agencies to provide a free credit report to you every 12 months upon request. There are also several other events that can trigger your right to receive your credit report. For example if you are unemployed and are seeking employment within the next 60 days, or have recently been denied credit.
The on-line system for the free report required by the FACT ACT is located here. https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
This web site collects some basic information from you and then loops through all three of the credit reporting agencies web sites. It is very convenient for you to start at one place on the web, but be prepared, it takes about 30 minutes to complete the process and you will be asked some 9 different security related questions during the process. I would advise having some of your personal account information available to you before you begin.
Some of the questions will be about where you have worked in the last 15 years, I had trouble with this one! My last employers information was abbreviated in their records and I couldn’t get it right after 4 tries! It didn’t lock me out, so I had to enter an employer from about 15 years ago to get past that screen. If you have loan account information with you that is more accurate because there is no room for mis-spellings or abbreviations.
Load your printer with paper! You’ve got to love technology, I didn’t have to wait 8 weeks and wait for the mail, however, I did run out of paper and had to print on the back of old paper. All three reports will take about 50 pieces of paper. (Maybe I will order some paper on-line too!)
At every turn I was baited by offers to purchase extra services like identity theft protection, and so on. There is an extra fee if you want to see your actual credit score. I made it all the way to the last one, Equifix, before they got me for $7.95. I just couldn’t resist being able to see my score after using up all the printer paper. Perhaps you can do better and click ‘No Thanks’ one more time than I did.