If you want to know how to check my credit? Well, you should also be interested in how to use and interpret your credit report, since it is the document through which if you need a loan, the lender will know your financial responsibility in the past.
For this reason, as the lender can request it legally, you will know below everything you need to know to present it with peace of mind.
How to check my credit and score
- You credit report shows in detail your credit accounts, whether past or current.
- In turn, it also shows in a document all the times that you or the lender you are asking for your credit report.
- Document transfers from your account to a collection agency.
- Include your financial situation such as possible foreclosures or bankruptcies.
- For this reason, your credit score is a representation of your credit worthiness.
- Sometimes the score can be called a FICO score or credit score and can range from 300 to 850.
- The credit score is represented by a number in your credit history with a weight percentage.
Interpretation of the credit score
- 10% corresponds to questions on the account.
- 10% corresponds to the types of credit in use.
- 15% corresponds to the duration of the credit history.
- 30% corresponds to the amounts owed.
- 35% corresponds to the payment history.
How to check my credit and access the report
- You have the right to request a free copy of your credit report once a year from the three main agencies: TrasnsUnion, Experian and Equifax.
- You can phone CreditReport.com to the toll free number 1-877-222-8228.
- If your credit is denied you have the right to see your credit report within 60 days after the credit was denied or if your report was indexed or if you are unemployed or have social security.
- It is important that you request your report from the three credit bureaus to review them in detail, because you may notice differences and errors in the three reports.
- In these cases, request a dispute within 30 days after receiving the report by contacting the corresponding agency.
Importance of knowing how to check my credit
It is important that you learn to check my credit because a good score can be decisive when you want to buy a car or a house and even for the payment of the university
Free credit report
All three credit reporting agencies are required by the FCRA, Fair Credit Reporting, to provide you with a free copy of your credit report. You can request it every year.
The entity claims the privacy and accuracy of the reports in the credit agencies.
For this reason, the agencies keep various data in your report such as if you declared bankruptcy, if you were sued, if you pay your bills and where you live.
Your report is even sold by national credit reporting agencies to companies that use the report for evaluating your credit applications, renting a home, looking for a job or submitting a credit application.
How to verify my credit for free online
The three national credit bureaus make their website, mailing address, and phone number available for you to request your free report each year:
- You can Lamar at 1-877-322-8228 from annualcreditrepoert.com.
- You can also complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to the Annual Report Request Service, PO Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.
- Annual credit reports are provided by mail by going to the annual credit reporting service or by calling 1-877-8228 through annual creditreport.com.
- By law you have the right to request your free report from the three companies one at a time every 12 months.
- Keep in mind that by law you have the right to request the annual report from creditreort.com.
- Therefore, although there are other websites that offer you a free credit report or a free monitoring of your credit report, they do not belong to the program that is legally mandatory.
For example, some sites may offer you the report for free but after the trial period they offer you to sign up for a service that is supposed to be free but that you will have to pay later.
Therefore, if you do not cancel before that trial period, you will have adjusted to pay the company for a credit card against your will.
How to check my credit in the USA
You already know that you can check your credit in the USA by law by requesting your free report for issues that are adverse to you, such as if you are denied a credit application, due to employment or insurance and if you make the request within 60 days after you receive notice of that action.
In that notice you will see the name of the credit reporting agency with its address and telephone number.
In case of unemployment you have the right to request your free report as well as you have the right by law to request it if you are looking for a job and you request it within 60 days.
You can request it by law if you suspect identity theft or fraud and even if you are in a situation of well-being.
If in addition to the free copy per year that corresponds to you by law, you need to request another copy in that same year, you can do it but the agency will charge you an amount stipulated by the same agency.
In fact, if you need another copy in addition to the one that corresponds to you for free, you can contact TransUnion at 1-800-916-8800 or the Experian telephone number: 1-88-397-3742 or the Equifax telephone number: 1- 800-885-111.
You can request your report from the three agencies but it depends on you, because each one will provide you with a report at the national level based on the fact that they have obtained your information from different sources.
For this reason, the information of one agency may not contain the same information that another provides you, which does not mean that the information is not exact but that it is different.
It is also up to you to request your report at the same time in the three agencies or in different months during the year. However, experts indicate that it is better that you request it at different times of the 12-month period so that you can have a greater precision of the information.
In the event that you find incomplete information, inaccuracies or errors, the FCRA indicates that the credit reporting agencies have the obligation to correct that information that is not exact or to complete your report if the information is incomplete.
In these cases, abiding by your rights by law, you must contact the credit reporting agency to correct or complete the information. Through a dispute.