subject: Why Should You Get A Free Credit Report In A Year? [print this page] As US federal law entitles every citizen of the United States of America to get a free credit report once in a year from the three specified chief credit reporting bureau, there are lot of questions coming out these days. One such question is why one should get a free report of credit history once in a year, whether its mandatory or not etc. To answer this question, I must tell you at the very beginning that this free credit report contains information about your credit report and not your credit score.
This free credit report is very necessary for getting a loan sanctioned or borrowing a little sum of money. Also you need this report to crosscheck whether the information is correct or not, whether you have any bad-debt or wrong debt in your name etc. Not only crosschecking or double-checking, if you are going to sign a major deal like purchasing house/car, applying for a job opening or issuing a new health insurance, you have to provide your credit information to the company or person.
Another reason for which you need to obtain this free credit report is to safeguard yourself from identity theft. Many people are facing this serious problem with the advancement of information technology. A hacker from Syria can use your personal information or credit card details to fulfill some evil purposes. The end result is - you will be behind the bars. To ensure personal safety against such fraudulent cases, you should avail your free credit report once in a year. Therefore, if something wrong happens in past, you will be able to come to realize that and take necessary steps.
If you do not avail this free credit report in a yearly basis, you may miss out some gross mistakes in your credit report. So without knowing the blunder you will one day apply for an emergency loan or for a job and immediately they will dismiss your application. Now, no one would like to face such embarrassing situation and experience disapproval from the authority.
Therefore, these are the main reasons why you should apply for a free credit report, at least once in a year. Situation may arise when you need a credit report 2-3 months after obtaining the free card. In such cases, you can apply for a copy of the report from any of the three credit reporting agencies authorized by the FTC.
