Obtaining your credit report is no big deal. It is something that can be easily obtained after you furnish a few of your financial details.

The 2003 Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, states that a free copy of the credit report is the right of every American. According, to the act every American has a right to obtain a free copy of this document which is one of the most important consumer documents. This can be obtained, every year from three designated credit bureaus, namely, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. These major credit bureaus are not going to send in the reports, if the consumer does not ask for them. This essentially means that there is no automatic sending of reports but consumer must send in their request for them.

Obtaining the Reports

There are various ways and means through which you can obtain your credit report and that too, without any cost.

• You can access a site named, www.annualcreditreport.com, which the only authorized source through, which people can obtain their annual credits reports online for free.
• You can get an ‘Annual Credit Report Request’ brochure from the FTC. There is a credit report request form on the back, which can be filled and then sent to the central office in Atlanta.
• There is a toll free number also made available for this purpose.

You have a choice of ordering all the three credit reports at one go, or you might want to order each of the three reports at different times during the year. The choice is dependant on the consumer, however, as a consumer you must make sure that you have ordered these reports from a centralized agency.

Other Ways to Obtain Credit Report

One of the other ways that you can obtain your credit report is by directly approaching the credit agencies. But, you must be aware that if you do so directly then you will be charged a fee, until and unless, you fit into another category or fulfill certain criteria, wherein you are not required to pay any fee.

You must also be wary of the various deceptive and fraudulent websites that claim to offer their users credit reports but charge a hefty amount for the same services that you can otherwise obtain for free. The best thing would be for you as a consumer would be to take the tried and tested route for obtaining your credit report; its free, its hassle free, and error free.