The Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"), amended by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 ("FACT" Act), enables every consumer to obtain a free copy of their credit report once every 12 months from each of the nationwide credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

WHY YOU SHOULD OBTAIN COPIES OF YOUR CREDIT REPORTS

Your reports contain information about your current and past credit and payment histories. Your credit reports will also affect whether you can get a loan and how much you will have to pay to borrow money.

You want to make sure your credit report is accurate, complete and up-to-date before you apply for a loan for a new home or car, rent an apartment, buy insurance, get a job or just as a periodic review. The FCRA specifies who can access your credit reports. Creditors, insurers, employers and other businesses, i.e., utility companies, which use the information in your reports to evaluate your creditworthiness, have a legal right to access your reports.

It will also help to guard against Identity Theft. Identity thieves use your personal information to open new credit accounts. When they don’t pay, the delinquent account is reported on your credit reports. Inaccurate information like that could affect your ability to get credit, insurance or even a job.

YOU CAN ORDER YOUR CREDIT REPORTS THREE DIFFERENT WAYS

Visit annualcreditreport.com, call 1-877-322-8228, or complete an official request form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. This form can be printed from www.ftc.gov/credit. Additional information about your free credit reports can also be found at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre34.shtm.

Do not contact the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies individually. They are providing free annual credit reports only through annualcreditreport.com, 1-877-322-8228, and Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

WHAT ABOUT YOUR CREDIT SCORES?

While the FACT Act requires the credit reporting agencies to provide you with annual credit reports free of charge, they are not required to give you your FICO credit scores for free. They are allowed to charge you a "fair and reasonable fee." At Equifax, their score is known as the Beacon credit score; TransUnion's is called Empirica; and Experian goes by Experian/Fair, Isaac Risk Model. You have the opportunity to purchase your corresponding credit score while you are accessing your free annual credit report.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT "OTHER" WEBSITES

Only one website is authorized to fill orders for the free annual credit reports you are entitled to under federal law — annualcreditreport.com. Other websites that claim to offer "free credit reports", "free credit scores" or "free credit monitoring" are not part of the legally mandated free annual credit report program and may end up charging fees to your credit card after a trial period. If you are ordering on line, please type carefully.