There are many of us today who are currently involved in the procurement of a loan – be it mortgage, personal line of credit, automobile, and the like. As consuming adults most of us understand that in order to qualify for such a loan we must be approved by the creditors to which we are applying; and the way that creditors make that determination is through the examination of our credit report. Our credit report is essentially a compilation of our financial history – everything from payment history to any loan defaults, and the amount of our current and past credit lines. This credit report is actually held in three separate places – by three different credit bureaus. Creditors generally check our credit report using one, two, or all three of the credit bureaus.

In order to know what our credit report is saying about us – and be sure that we will not encounter any surprises through the application process – it is in our best interests to request a free credit report at least once a year – or prior to applying for a loan.

Free credit reports can be found online through https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp, a central portal that releases information from all three of the credit bureaus. By accessing this one site, visitors can get free credit reports from any or all of the credit bureaus.

While this is the accepted time to request free credit reports, it is by no means the only appropriate time to do so. In fact, it makes sense to request free credit reports throughout the year – even when not applying for loans - in order to be sure that no inaccurate information is being including on the report and that everything is as it should be so as to avoid any unwelcome surprises. This is especially important in order to avoid any possible identity theft which would be caught in a periodic examination of a free credit report.

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