# *** Annual Credit Report . com - Protect yourself



## Rich Parsons (Aug 11, 2005)

At AnnualCreditReport.com a person can request a free credit report from the three major credit reporting agencies.

This site is absolutely free and will take you to the major sites to get the data online and you can print it out for reference.

By Law each agency allows you to get one credit report per year for free. If you go to the individual sites, they will try to get you to buy all three from them and also pay extra to get your Credit Score. They may also try to seel you some for of credit monitoring service for a fee. The site listed above has no fees. *I have used it myself just minutes ago. * 

Unfortunately this site does nothing about your credit scores. Most of the sites I saw charged about $5 for the score. I know that my Car and Home and Life Insurance companies use the credit score or rating to help determine discounts. They may provide this to you once a year as part of their policy or you maybe able to request what score they have used.

One of the options I really liked was that I could order one of the reports today, and get a different one in 3 or 4 months, and then the third in the next 3 to 4 months. This allows you to monitor your credit somewhat throughout the year. Or if you see a problem with the first one, then you can request the others to go about correcting them in writing. 

Best regards

 :asian:


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## Brad Dunne (Aug 11, 2005)

You stated that they let you print it out on your computer. I just tried and they said they would only mail it to me in 10 to 15 days. Did you find away around this or did this not happen to you?


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## Rich Parsons (Aug 11, 2005)

Brad Dunne said:
			
		

> You stated that they let you print it out on your computer. I just tried and they said they would only mail it to me in 10 to 15 days. Did you find away around this or did this not happen to you?




If there is a problem with identifying you, such as incorrect SS # or, address, hence the request for old addresses if less than two years.

I miss typed the SS number, and it told me the same thing. I went back and started all over, and did it right, and it worked fine.


Also, if that is not the issue, maybe you should right them and find out what is up, as they may have you flagged for some reason.


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## Bob Hubbard (Aug 11, 2005)

I gotta wait til September. Bah.


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## Gemini (Aug 12, 2005)

Yea, me too. I was bummed until I realized that's only about 2 weeks away.

Thanks for the link.


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## still learning (Aug 12, 2005)

Hello, Sometimes others have our life in there control.   If someone wanted to ruin your life?  Credit reports can do that.  It is only as good as the people who monitor it? and hackers?----who can make your life "hell"

 Are we turning our lives to the computor world for information about us?

 Am I good or bad?  .....www let me know?..................Aloha


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## Phoenix44 (Aug 15, 2005)

An article I read recently suggested you request your free annual credit report from a different one of the three major agencies every 4 months.  That way you're getting one free three times a year.  It's worth doing.  I was identity thefted recently.  Fortunately, they didn't get too much money and did't mess me up too bad.


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## Rich Parsons (Aug 16, 2005)

Phoenix44 said:
			
		

> An article I read recently suggested you request your free annual credit report from a different one of the three major agencies every 4 months.  That way you're getting one free three times a year.  It's worth doing.  I was identity thefted recently.  Fortunately, they didn't get too much money and did't mess me up too bad.




The site listed allows you to choose which of the three you want to get a credit report from, so this free site will allow you to get three through out the year, beacuse, each major credit agency has to provide you one by law. 

It is a good idea, unless you find some major issues on teh first one , then you might want to get all three and get the addressed ASAP, and then once addressed fall back to the every 4 months.


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## Brian R. VanCise (Aug 16, 2005)

Ahhh, Credit Self Defense is so important now a days!
You should definately check out your report every
three to four months! Good post Rich!

Brian R. VanCise


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## Rich Parsons (Nov 17, 2005)

Bob Hubbard said:
			
		

> I gotta wait til September. Bah.



Hey Bob, it is November


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## Cthulhu (Nov 17, 2005)

This is a good tool to help determine if someone is trying to swipe your identity.  Lucky for me, I work for a bank and have other tools at my disposal to curb or identify identity theft.

Cthulhu


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## Rich Parsons (Feb 7, 2006)

I just did another check up of one of the three free credit reports, one can get a year. (* 3 as in one per major company. *)

Just thought I would bring this back up for review for new members.


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## Rich Parsons (Jul 27, 2006)

It is about time I execute another one of my Free reports. 

I thought I would bring this back for the new members to review and check out for the financial security.


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## Rich Parsons (Feb 23, 2009)

Given the current market I thought I would bring this thread back to life. 

Within the first post is a link to a site to get free credit reports from the three credit reporting agencies.

These agencies, give one away per year by law.


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## Rich Parsons (Mar 26, 2021)

Just did a check up at all three credit reporting agencies. 
I had to do each one at a time. 
I was able to save off in PDF. 
A couple seemed harder to navigate than the other. 

Just a check up. 

*** Yes Thread Necro ***


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## Steve (Mar 26, 2021)

Rich Parsons said:


> Just did a check up at all three credit reporting agencies.
> I had to do each one at a time.
> I was able to save off in PDF.
> A couple seemed harder to navigate than the other.
> ...


Most credit cards and banks now offer free credit reports and credit monitoring.  Definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Also, kind of interesting reading through the thread.  We're definitely at a different point than we were 16 years ago in 2005.  With the relative frequency of data breaches and ID theft, credit has become much more transparent, and often the first and best indicator of issues.


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## Rich Parsons (Mar 30, 2021)

Steve said:


> Most credit cards and banks now offer free credit reports and credit monitoring.  Definitely worth keeping an eye on.
> 
> Also, kind of interesting reading through the thread.  We're definitely at a different point than we were 16 years ago in 2005.  With the relative frequency of data breaches and ID theft, credit has become much more transparent, and often the first and best indicator of issues.



Steve,

Yes Bank and credit cards companies have a credit score and also some tracking. Which is great. 
This allows one to go see al three reports and find out if there is any old data or incorrect data. 
Also if someone created an account one was not aware of.


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## dvcochran (Mar 30, 2021)

Our father had each child take out a $500 loan when we turned 14. Of course he had to co-sign. It was a 90 day note but we had to pay it off in 60 days; then he explained how this saves a person in interest cost when borrowing money. Six months later he had each of us borrow $1,000 on a one year note and had us pay it off in 6 months, explaining the same lesson. When we turned 16 he did the same with $1,500 following the same timeline. When each of us turned 18 we bought a new vehicle with our own money or a loan without a cosigner. Without a doubt one of the best lessons he ever taught me. 

We use two financial institutions and a separate investing firm. I am on a first name basis with all of them and we move a lot of money around during some projects. Without a doubt the most powerful ally a person can have in banking is a better than good relationship. If your account gets hacked it is going to happen before you know it. It pays to be working with a real person who knows you and your history instead of being a cold statistic being judged on analytics. 
I could not tell you exactly what my credit score is and have no care or worry to.


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