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How to get your free credit history check (cont...)

(c) Copyright 2006 by Timothy Thriftwood 

Simply ask them for your annual check, and you will get one without any delay! Their government-mandated rule is that all consumers have the right to pull his or her Credit Report once each year, and once for each time he or she's been turned down for a loan. 

Don't just take the word of one single credit bureau, either. You get to ask all three for your annual report, so don't settle for just one. These three reports will sometimes differ from one another because your creditors are subscribed to different ones... So your MasterCard card account might show up on Equifax, but never have been reported to TransUnion. (Equifax is like the bulldog of the bunch.) 

I hope that I've shown you something of worth here and that you will see the value in this information, and use it to improve your credit history. Keep in mind that although Uncle Sam says that the bureaus have to give you the information, congress put aside no budget at all to market that fact to anyone, so it's so easy to fall for the opposing camp's marketing traps. Don't give in! You don't need too pay that much for credit monitoring. It's not hard at all to do it yourself! 

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Tim Thriftwood is a home lender & realtor who has helped dozens of credit-challenged families into homes when other lenders told them no. Browse Tim's Credit Repair website and take advantage of his all-free resources to help you repair your Credit Score.

How to get your free credit history check (cont...)

(c) Copyright 2006 by Timothy Thriftwood 

Now that you know the difference between a free credit history check and a whole free Credit Report check, you're probably wondering where you can get a genuinely free version. 

First of all, watch out for all the websites claiming to give it away for free, they're always selling something, as most websites that offer valuable services would. So don't waste your time on one of those online companies that claims to give you your free Credit Report and then wants to charge you money for it... The government says that you are entitled to one check for free every year! So how exactly do you get your government-mandated free Credit Report? 

Many companies are really going to hate me for posting this here, but it is my pleasure to present the no-hassle, bona-fide, absolutely free credit history & report check. 

All three major credit bureaus accept requests for free Credit Report checks by both snail mail and telephone, which they can either mail back to you or in some cases fax to you. Here is the contact information you've been seeking: 

Experian

• 1-888-397-3742
• National Consumers Assistance Center
• P.O. Box 2104
• Allen, TX 75013-2104

Equifax

• 1-800-525-6285
• P.O. Box 740241
• Atlanta, GA 30374

TransUnion

• 1-800-916-8800
• Consumer Disclosure Center
• P.O. Box 2000
• Chester, PA 19022

How to Get your Free Credit History Check

(c) Copyright 2006 by Timothy Thriftwood

This may come as a surprise, but a free credit history check is included in any reputable Credit Report check. Many people use the terms interchangeably, but a free credit history check is actually referring to the history section of any free Credit Report that you've pulled.

Actually, to be perfectly fair about it, there are different kinds of credit reports. The one that you would be sent from the three credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian) all have a history section included. When you actually pay money to one of those online 'free Credit Report' places, not only do you get ripped off for having to pay in the first place, but you'll find that their reports don't follow the same format as the official ones, and some leave out all traces of your history and just give the derogatories with no respect to the date that they occurred!

A free credit history section (from a credit bureau) has a lot to it, in fact. It shows all the accounts, open, closed, and revolving that have occurred in the last seven years. Then, it shows month-by-month values for how many payments were late or paid on time during the whole duration of each account. Finally, it goes into detail about the amount owed for each amount, and how large the monthly payments are. This is the part, in my experience, out of the entire Credit Report that lenders scrutinize over the most.

There are some items that go back further than seven years. Particularly bankruptcy judgments, and in most states any kind of tax or property lien will stick to your history report for a whole decade. In fact, anything government or tax related is very likely to stick to you for much longer and ruin the rest of your financial life, so be sure to pay those off first and foremost to avoid the worst kind of credit problems.