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Personal Finance

Get a copy of your credit report to protect yourself from credit fraud and identity theft

If you want to gain control of your own financial situation, and figure out how far you are in debt and why, then you should definitely get a copy of your credit report. This is the one piece of information that all of your potential future creditors (or even employers) have access to – and it is the one thing that can stand between you and getting a loan at some future date. Therefore, it’s in your best interest to know what your credit report is like as soon as possible.

There are some services that will offer access to your credit report if you pay – however, you should definitely avoid these services. You can get access to your credit report for free – in fact, there is a federal law in the United States that states you can get one free credit report each year. You should definitely take advantage of this free report every year if you have any debt, or if you’re thinking about getting any credit.

Another thing that you should be careful of if you’re looking for your credit report is the number of websites that are not actually official. There is only one official website that can give you your free credit report – any others are potential scams. Therefore, you should always make sure to read all the fine print before you make any agreements to get your free credit report. Make sure that you check to find out whether or not your free credit report is actually free. You should also never sign up for a subscription to a website in order to get your credit report. In a lot of these cases, the membership may start out free, but will eventually cost a monthly or yearly fee.

There are several good reasons to get access to your credit report. Not only will you be able to tell what future creditors will see on it – but if there are any discrepancies or errors, you can get them fixed right away. You can also check to make sure that your credit information is not being used incorrectly – your credit report will allow you to figure out whether or not you are a victim of identity theft.