How Hudson Valley Residents Can Check Their Credit for Free

Watching your credit and credit reports? How closely do you look at these credit reports? Are you afraid to? I have been in that spot. I have actually held my breath, waiting for the credit reports to generate, wanting to make sure that everything is ok.

There are three credit bureaus, Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax. Each one has its own system of gathering your credit info, and companies use this info to see if you are credit-worthy. How can you see what they see? Get a copy of your credit report.

How do you get a copy of your credit report? Does it cost money?

No, no, no, it does not cost money. Normally, you can get one copy of your credit report for free, each year, from each of the three credit bureaus. The suggestion is that you actually file to get one every 4 months, that way if you are trying to repair your credit, you can see if you are being successful or not.

Why do some places charge you to get your credit report?

The places that are charging you (I'm guessing) are credit repair businesses, ones that you pay to monitor things. That fee gets you access to a few services, including access to your credit reports.

So, why and how can you get your credit report for free, and how come you can get one every week in 2022?

Yep, normally you can only get one per year (three total, one from each agency). But in 2022, you can actually access your report each week. Is it overkill? That depends. How much information do you want to know, and need to know?

Where do you get this weekly free credit report? How do you get it?

It is easier than it sounds. Yes, you need internet access to use the Annual Credit Report website, but they conveniently also have an actual phone number too, 877-322-8228.

What should you do with this information, once you get it?

Read it. Check it over and if anything, and I mean anything looks out of sorts, or just wrong, dispute it. The information in that report is what is used to get a credit card, mortgage, car loan, and in some cases a job. A dispute will take a little time, but in my experience, the dispute gets it off your record.