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Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are entitled to ask for, and receive, a free copy of your government credit report once a year. The FCRA serves to promote accurate information, held in privacy, by consumer reporting companies

Your credit report contains personal information like your address, your bill-paying habits, and your status as far as bankruptcy, arrest or any legal action against you. This information is of interest to companies who may be creditors, employers, insurers, lending institutions and landlords, and the consumer reporting companies sell the reports to them.

There are a few reasons why you would want a copy of your credit report. You might want to make sure the report contains accurate and factual information before you apply for a loan, for insurance or new employment, to make sure that there isn’t anything incorrectly in the report that could affect your approval chances.

Checking your credit report annually is also a precaution against identity theft. Also, if you have had credit declined, your credit report could contain information that will tell you the reason this happened.

There are currently just three nationwide companies that are credit reporting agencies, and they are contactable through a combined website, a toll-free phone number and a mail address. You can request one credit report from each company within any year. Remember, that you do have rights under the FCRA.

The website is at www. Annualcreditreport. Com; the mailing address is ACRRS, PO Box 105281, Atlanta. GA 30348-5281; and the phone number is 1-877-322-8228. You need to first request an application form which needs to be filled in and sent off by mail or email. The information you will need to provide on the application is your name and address; your Social Security number; your date of birth and details of any recent change of address or name. You may be asked some personal questions to identify yourself.

This is the only website legally authorized to provide your government credit report, so beware of other websites that try to lure you into giving out personal details or handing over some money. You will not need to “subscribe” to anything to get your free credit report, so any website that asks for you to “sign up” is not genuine. These websites have no access to your credit report anyway.

Under the terms of the Act, your privacy is guaranteed, so any emails or letters asking for personal details are a hoax. When you apply for your government credit report, you will not be asked for any details except for what is on the application form.

For information and tips on credit report scores and my free credit report , visit Online Credit Report