With identity theft so prevalent, it is a prudent idea to check your credit report often. It will also help in fixing bad credit, or you just want to know what your credit history is like. Looking at your credit report gives you an idea of what a lender will see the next time you apply for a loan or mortgage.

A credit report is a register of a person’s credit history and is made up of four categories of data:

• Credit History – this contains a person’s payment history and shows account status, credit limit or credit balance, monthly payment information etc.
• Identification Data – also known as the credit header data, this part includes name, address, social security number, and date of birth.
• Inquiries – this section contains information about all other organisations or individuals who have looked at the file and for what purpose in the past six months.
• Public Records – this part of the report contains data on court judgments, tax liens, bankruptcies, and collections.

 It used to be law that everyone was entitled to at least one free credit report every 12 months. From then on you may have to pay, but this depends on which state you live in and how much you have to pay. This has now changed and people have to pay to get a copy of their credit report, but there are times you can get a free copy of your credit report.

Obtaining a free credit report

Usually you can still get a free copy of your credit report if you have been recently turned down for credit.

When this happens, you receive a letter that explains why you were refused and the credit bureau used, and how to contact them to get a free report.

The three major credit bureaus are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Some may have more information than others and it’s possible that one of the credit bureaus doesn’t have any credit information on you at all, especially if you don’t have a great deal of credit history.

You can purchase a 3-in-1 report which is basically getting all three reports from each of the credit bureaus. This is a good start especially if you have never seen your credit report before.

The final way to get a free credit report is if you have been a victim of fraud. If you believe there has been fraudulent activity on your credit report then you can write to the credit bureaus, explain to them the situation and request a free copy of your report.

You may want to be cautious if you are using fraud as an excuse to get a copy of the report because every time you do it a note goes on your report.