Why check your credit report at least once a year

Credit reports are one of the primary tools that creditors use to make fair and accurate decisions on whether or not to grant credit. Your credit report is a snapshot of your financial trustworthiness. We are excited about the opportunity to provide you with all the tools you need to help you better manage your personal financial health. Refer to the left column to access your free credit information.

Checking your credit information regularly is the best way to keep your credit accurate and error-free. It also is essential to your credit health since it can provide an early detection to the fastest growing crime in America, Identity Theft.

Which credit bureau should I choose?

There are 3 major credit bureaus in the United States: TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. All credit bureaus will contain your major credit accounts, but each will have slightly different information on you.

Since these credit bureaus do not share data, the only way to know exactly how your credit stands is to check all three credit bureaus, especially when you are trying to clear up negative credit issues.

We recommend you order a personal credit report from each of the three credit bureaus. However, we realize that it can be time consuming to check all three, so we've developed a merged credit report that provides data from all three credit bureaus onto one report. Get your three-bureau credit report now!



When should I check my credit score?

While a credit report can be considered your detailed financial history, a credit score is an objective summary of that information. It represents your creditworthiness as a number. Credit bureaus offer several different types of credit scores in their product portfolio, appealing to the vast array of creditors and credit applications in the country.

Credit scores are one of the primary tools a creditor uses when determining the financial risk in lending money to you. Creditors use credit scores to determine whether or not to grant you credit and, if so, how much credit and at what rate. Creditors will also access and consider your credit report, which can provide further substantiation on a given component of a score that could affect their final decision. However, as most credit decisions are made very quickly, it is a credit score that is most often used.

We encourage everyone to check their credit report AND credit score prior to making major purchases such as homes and automobiles and to help ensure its accuracy. You may order your credit report and/or credit score from any or all of the three credit bureaus from our site.