In today’s world, ensuring accurate credit report information is very important. However, where to start can be overwhelming.

Starting Point

By law, each U.S. Citizen is entitled to an annual copy of their credit report from the 3 major reporting companies, namely TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. The problem with many of these “Get your free credit report sites” is many of tem require a credit-card before you can get the free offer because they are trying to sell optional services. Further investigation reveals that Annual Credit Report does not require a credit card prior to obtaining credit reports from all 3 companies. If other optional services are desired, then some form of payment can be entered.

Verification

Next, you will need to verify your information from each company. You will need your social security number (SSN), date of birth (DOB) and your current address and previous address if you have not lived at your current address at least 2 years. Once, all the pertinent information is entered, an online report is viewable and printable. I always suggest print one copy to the printer and saving an electronic copy in Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF) on your computer so you can reference it later, if needed. (See Technical Tip below)

Correcting Errors

If any errors are found, there is an option to dispute each entry online. On my report, I did not realize that an old account with Best Buy was still listed as open although I no longer had the card nor used it in almost 5 years. I was able to telephone Best Buy and request my options for account closure. A signed, written letter with some key information was required to be mailed or faxed and I chose the latter. Additionally, I still filed a discrepancy on my credit report for them so the error would be corrected sooner rather than later because updates can take anywhere from 3-6 months to process.

Summary

Check your credit report at least annually for errors and your protection. After all, it is free and you are entitled.

Technical Tip

Saving documents in Adobe’s PDF format is a great way to preserve **any** viewable document. Keep in mind with .PDF format, it is easy to re-print, forward to someone via e-mail and even fax without worry that the recipient has the same software as you.

For Mac users, this is easy because the ability to save PDF documents is built-in, at least for version OS X. When prompted to print any page (from any application), an option to Print to PDF is presented. Choseing this option will prompt the user for a filename (and location on the computer) to save the file. Voila!!! The document is saved in a universal PDF format.

For Windows users, a little bit more work is needed but it is not too difficult. I recommend CutePDF Writer because it is free. Download and install it as well as the GPL GhostScript . Once installed, CutePDF Printer will be installed. When you want to create or save a .PDF document, you will PRINT to this printer. It may seem odd but trust me, it works.

For various platforms; Windows, Mac, Linux and others, the Adobe Acrobat Reader is free and can be used to open and print .PDF documents