3 Credit reports are a gold mine of information about consumers. They contain Social Security number, date of birth, current and previous addresses, telephone number (including unlisted numbers), credit payment status, employment, even legal information. The 3 national credit bureaus systems in the United States are Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. Experian was formerly known as TRW. You can get a 3 credit report for around $24, and it will tell you all you need to understand about your credit.

These national credit bureaus are for-profit companies owned by their shareholders. They are not government entities or funded by the government. The 3 national credit bureaus are competitors of each other, and they do not normally share their credit information except in special cases. That is why it is important to order a credit report from all three credit bureaus. So knowing your 3 credit report can be a short cut to save you time applying to services which you won’t receive. If someone has been acquiring accounts in your name and not telling you or paying them, they will show up on your 3 credit report as a bad score. This will let you take appropriate legal action to get them removed from your record and to get the guy who did it by calling the cops.

Thanks to the federal FACT Act, consumers nationwide are now able to get a free copy of their credit report annually from each of the three credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion (FCRA sec. 612 (a)(1)(A)&(B)). To order your free reports, you can call the official toll-free number, (877) 322-8228. You can also go online to www.annualcreditreport.com where you can order your reports directly. Or you can print out the form and mail your request. Really, it’s easy and you’ve got nothing to lose.

Once you get your credit reports and you discover that your FICO score is really low you should immediately try and raise this number by disputing the accuracy of the negatives in your reports. But how do you do this? I suggest you take a look at a report written by an attorney called “the attorney´s guide to credit repair” You´ll find sample letters you can use to send off to the bureaus. Take action as soon as you get your reports!