Kitchens by Riland

Every American Citizen has the right to obtain a free credit report annually, as per the amendment to Fair Credit Reporting Act, in 2004. The credit report can be obtained from each of the three major credit reporting bureau namely,

* Equifax

* Experian

* TransUnion

The credit report is a document prepared by the bureaus stated supra which contains the following details:

* Address: Present; Permanent and how often you shift homes.

* Bills payment details

* Credit available in bank accounts

* Type of credit

* Legal details (whether you have been imprisoned or have faced a legal prosecution)

One thing that has to be noted is that the credit reporting bureau are not responsible to send you the report but it is the right of the citizen to request them to send a credit report. Thus the bureaus only send a credit report when the citizen has asked for it.

The credit report is prepared by the bureau but they seek help from various lenders, insurance companies, credit card companies, employers, and landlords to prepare the credit report. Once the report is prepared these businesses now determine whether they can extend your loans, or reduce the interest rates or extend credit, or hire you as an employee. If the report finds that you have a history of late repayments or missed payments, then they consider you high risk and think twice before they hand you another loan or increase your credits.

{Please keep in mind that the free annual credit report facility is only for American citizens.}

Also bear in mind that the bureaus do not call or email you asking for personal information or credit information and if you get any calls/emails asking for such details, the bureau requests you to ignore such calls and mails. They are scams and may gain access to your credit/ personal information if you do respond to them. Please use the direct website only.

It now becomes the responsibility of the citizen who requests his or her credit report to be prepared by the three credit reporting bureaus to check whether the given data in the credit report are genuine or not. Since the credit report can affect new loan possibilities or the obtainment of a credit card, the validation of the data in the credit report becomes al the more important.

Credit report is thus a background check and helps businesses like money lenders, banks, credit card companies, employers etc analyze you through your financial transactions.