By: Armco Credit Union & the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau July 25, 2023
Free Credit Reports Available Weekly
We urge you to check your credit report often due to a rise of fraud and scams – even if you have good credit. You can check your TransUnion, Equifax and Experian free credit reports on a weekly basis until Dec. 31, 2023. Reviewing your accounts regularly helps you catch early signs of identity theft. Credit reports may affect your mortgage rate, credit card approvals, apartment requests or even your job application. To obtain a free weekly credit report from one of the bureaus listed above, visit AnnualCreditReport.com This is the only official site explicitly directed by Federal law to provide your free credit report. Don’t be fooled by other websites that promise credit reports for free.
What to look for when you acquire your credit report.
According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, you should look for these common errors on your credit report. Identity errors
- Errors made to your identity information (wrong name, phone number, address)
- Accounts belonging to another person with the same or a similar name as yours (this mixing of two consumers’ information in a single file is called a mixed file)
- Incorrect accounts resulting from identity theft
Incorrect reporting of account status
- Closed accounts reported as open
- You are reported as the owner of the account, when you are actually just an authorized user
- Accounts that are incorrectly reported as late or delinquent
- Incorrect date of last payment, date opened, or date of first delinquency
- Same debt listed more than once (possibly with different names)
Data management errors
- Reinsertion of incorrect information after it was corrected
- Accounts that appear multiple times with different creditors listed (especially in the case of delinquent accounts or accounts in collections)
Balance Errors
- Accounts with an incorrect current balance
- Accounts with an incorrect credit limit
If you find errors, you should contact the credit reporting company who sent you the report, and the creditor or company that provided the information (called the “furnisher” of the information). Your credit report includes directions about how to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information.
Sources “New Data Shows FTC Received 2.2 Million Fraud Reports from Consumers in 2020.”, Federal Trade Commission, 02 Feb. 2021, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/02/new-data-shows-ftc-received-2-2-million-fraud-reports-consumers. Accessed 31 Aug. 2021. Press Release. “What are common credit report errors that I should look for on my credit report?” Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 08 June 2017, https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-are-common-credit-report-errors-that-i-should-look-for-on-my-credit-report-en-313/. Accessed 31 Aug. 2021.
