Your Credit Report

Getting Your Credit Report

Knowing where your credit reputation stands is important for the financial and career decisions you will make. Lets learn the process for getting your credit report.

How It Works

The Short Version

Go to the Official Website

Pick an agency and look at your report.

Print Your Report and Check the Next

How to Get Your Credit Report

Go to the Right Website:
Go need to visit: www.annualcreditreport.com.
This is the official, federal government sanctioned site.
Note: type this address right into your address bar: do not Google the website!!! This will save you a lot of pop ups or going to the wrong site.
Pull Each Report One At A Time:
You can start with whichever report you like: Experian, Transunion, Equifax. You will pull each credit report one at a time, going back and forth to annualcreditreport.com to get the next report.
Get Your Printer Ready
Make sure you have ink in your printer and paper, lots of it (some reports have 40+ pages given the age of your credit history). Once you pull up your credit report, it is only available right then. You can't leave the site and come back later to print. If something happens and you have to leave the site, you will have to get your credit report directly from the agency for a fee.
Have Your Info Ready
You will be asked a series of security questions about your credit history that only you should know. So, you want to have a good understanding of your credit history and what your payments have been in the past.I suggest you take a few of your statements (i.e., car payment, mortgage statement, and credit card statement) to computer with you.
Note: If you do not answer the questions correctly, the credit bureau will give you a message it is not sure it is you and you may have to call in or mail your request into them in order to receive your credit report.
Be Patient:
Be patient, I have assisted many clients in pulling their credit, sometimes it takes 30 minutes and up to 1.5 hours depending upon individual situations.

Get our

step-by-step

instructions for
getting your credit report online, by mail, or by phone.

Click here

If You Can't Get Your Reports Online

How

You can get them

by phone
by mail

Why

Here are some of the reasons you may have to write the credit bureau to get your report:

You have been a victim of identity theft or you have put a fraud alert or a freeze onto your credit report.
You have not answered your security questions correctly and (you will receive that message from the credit bureau)
You have a very common name and want to ensure you get the correct report by sending documents that ensure it is you.
You have some type of special circumstance and the credit bureau wants documents that prove who you are and where you live.

If you need to get your Credit Report by Mail

Make sure you have the documents they want. Only send copies of your documents. These are some examples of what the bureau may ask for:

driver license
utility bill
cable bill
mortgage statement
rental/lease agreement
DOB
address (if less than 2 years, they will want the previous address as well)
phone number home and cell
SS# full or last 4 digits depending upon the circumstance

Note: you should mail these items from the U.S. post office: Send Certified Mail and Return Receipt.

(DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!!!) This will ensure you get the reports in a timely fashion. Put a simple cover letter together with your required copies in order to make it easy for credit bureau staff to expedite your report quickly.

If you need to get your Credit Report by Phone

The second most popular way to pull your credit is by calling the credit bureaus directly. I tell my clients to get current contact number by calling (800) 555-1212 toll free operator assistance; this way, they have the number for themselves and for their future use.

Once you have the number, sure you know all of your pertinent information ready to give them:

driver license
utility bill
cable bill
mortgage statement
rental/lease agreement
DOB
address (if less than 2 years, they will want the previous address as well)
phone number home and cell
SS# full or last 4 digits depending upon the circumstance

The automated system will ask a series of questions and you must use your touch tone phone to answer the questions. If your answers do not match their database, they will ask you to send a written request. The automated system will let you know when you should expect the report.

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