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FREE copy of your TransUnion credit report;
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and
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...Or if you want to get just your credit report, you can buy it straight from
the credit bureau Equifax.
Your Credit Rights Under the
Fair Credit Reporting Act(FCRA)
Note: Your state's laws may provide
additional rights and restrictions.
Access to your credit report is restricted
There are only four ways that your credit report can be legally obtained:
- by a government order from a court or a child support agency;
- by your written consent;
- in business situations such as granting credit, employment,
underwriting insurance or qualifying for a government license;
- or for some other "legitimate business need".
The law requires that credit bureaus keep the name of anyone who requests
your report for one year or two years if it's an employer. And anyone who uses information
from your credit report to deny your application for such things as credit, insurance or employment,
must give you the name, address and phone number of the bureau that provided the report.
So who's been checking your credit? You can find out now by getting your
Free Credit Profile.
You have the right to see your credit report
The FCRA requires credit bureaus to provide you with your credit report
and have the information explained to you. In addition, you can get the
report free if:
- you've been turned down for credit, employment or insurance within the last sixty days;
- you're unemployed and plan on applying for a job in the next sixty days;
- you're on welfare;
- you've been notified by a collection agency that their report to a credit bureau
maybe or has adversely affected your credit rating;
- or you're a victim of credit fraud.
If none of these conditions apply, you can still get your credit report with your
Free Credit Profile.
Time limits on reporting most kinds of negative information
The FCRA established time restrictions for including negative information in your credit report are:
- seven years for most items;
- ten years for bankruptcies;
- and seven years for lawsuits and judgments or longer if their statute of limitations is greater.
There is no time limit on some public information such as criminal convictions.
And if your credit report is sought in connection with a credit application or
insurance policy of at least $150,000 or if you're applying for employment which has
an annual salary of $75,000 or more, then there is no time limit on reporting negative items.
Is there negative information in your credit file? Find out now with a copy of your
Free Credit Profile.
Errors are required to be corrected
If you notify a credit bureau of an error on your credit report they're
required to investigate the matter and make any necessary changes within
30 days of being notified. And after they finish their investigation
the bureau must:
- send you their findings within 5 days and include a copy of your report;
- delete disputed information that can't be verified within 30 days by the creditor who
originally supplied the data;
- send any corrected information to the major credit bureaus;
- and at your request, send a corrected report to anyone who received your report within the
previous 6 months or previous 2 years if it was for employment purposes.
If a creditor misses the 30 day deadline and then later confirms the
accuracy of the disputed information, the negative item can be reinserted in
the credit file. If this happens, you must be notified by the bureau
of the addition. If the negative information is left in, you have
the right to have included a statement of up to 100 words explaining
why you think the information is inaccurate.
A study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a non-profit consumer
organization, found that 70%
of the credit reports had some kind of error.
Is yours one of them? Find out now
with your Free Credit Profile.
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