Free Annual Credit Report

sunshineva · Joined: 15 Jun 2009 Posts: 78 6.76 Dollars($)

Hi Members,

Thank you for your terrific forum and knowledgeable moderators. Just finished reviewing my and my spouse's free annual credit reports. I used the official government link below to request my copy:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre34.shtm

I chose to use Equifax for my credit report and Transunion to request my husband's report. I always request our reports from two different companies to compare the reported information between agencies since my spouse and I are either joint owners or users on all of our credit and loan accounts.

I was very impressed with the information provided by Transunion. In addition to obtaining and printing the free report, they also provided a personalized debt analysis which can be used to compare the difference between your monthly income versus the monthly amount spent to maintain your debt. The snapshot of credit-to-debt and debt-to-income ratios can be an eye opener, especially for those who may not devote enough care and consideration to their financial situation. The analysis was presented in pie chart format which was simple to understand. The report format was easy to read and print.

The free report provided for Equifax was also presented in a simple format but I was unable to access additional analysis tools as availble through Transunion. If similar tools were available through Equifax, it may be that I was unable to navigate to the proper website location to access them.

Both sites offered simple instructions to use in the event a discrepancy was found. Identical information was reported to both credit agencies for my spouse and I, and I'm happy to say no discrepancies were identified on either report. Next year, I will choose Experian and one of the previous year's agencies to review our reports so that I can follow up on the information reported the prior year, and check the credit information being reported by the bureau I did not select the year before.

Hope everyone will spend the time to obtain their free annual credit reports, review them for accuracy, and take the necessary steps to correct any errors that were reported.

gunzijjistaff · Joined: 07 Apr 2009 Posts: 638 8.94 Dollars($)

Thanks for sharing this info with us.

Niicss · Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 2:52 am Post subject:

It is really good to know that you had a great experience while dealing with Transunion and Equifax regarding your credit report. I agree with you that it's very important to review the credit report for accuracy. If a negative item stays in your credit report, it will reduce your credit score and it would be difficult for you to qualify for any kind of loan. You should take proper steps to remove those negative items, if any, from your credit report. You should write a letter to credit bureau and dispute the negative item. If the credit bureau doesn't verify the negative item, write a demand letter to them and ask them to remove the item from your report.

banker0679 · Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 8:56 pm Post subject:

Equifax and Transunion (in my experience) has been the easiest to work with when disputing credit stuff. Experian was always slow

Make sure you check your FICO credit score AND credit report. Lenders use FICO model (not vantage).

gmakerley · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:59 am Post subject:

i concur with what banker has told us...vantage is new on the market and not at all universally accepted. the big 3 (experian, equifax and transunion) still rule, and until something major happens to bring vantage to the fore, i don't foresee that changing anytime soon.

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