Reviewed My Equifax Credit Report

Since the passing of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACT) at the end of 2003, everyone can get a free copy of their credit report from each of the reporting agencies. In Maryland, this was always possible but you had to navigate the individual credit agency sites to find the free report link. Now, all you do is visit www.AnnualCreditReport.com and select which (or all) the agencies you want a report from. A common strategy that I use is to stagger my reports every four months so that I get a pretty accurate snapshot and can catch any fraudulent activity within 4 months. It’s not as good as paying the money and getting a constant view of what happens on a daily basis but as a free option it’s pretty good.

I reviewed my Equifax credit report and didn’t find anything particularly surprising. There was an old American Eagle credit card that I had closed because of inactivity but that wasn’t reflected in the report. Equifax’s dispute system is easy to use and I reported the account as being closed so it should be a small matter to settle. There was also a listing for a GECapital Line of Credit and I don’t recall ever opening that, or needing it, so I reported that as an error.

I suggest you print out your report (mine was a ridiculous 49 pages) since the agency is only required to provide the report once. If you close the window, it’s gone.

Image is by mylexicon.