By now most Americans have heard they can check their credit reports once a year for free to insure they haven’t become victims of identity theft by going to annualcreditreport.com. However, I’m here to tell you this is not the best idea. You should check your credit report three times a year for free instead. How can you do this? In the exact same way: by going to annualcreditreport.com.
When you visit the website you will notice that you can request a report from all three of the credit bureaus: TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. But there is nowhere that says that you have to request all three at the same time. Thus, it makes sense to stagger the reports, since in most cases the credit bureaus share information with one another. For example, request your TransUnion report in January, your Experian report in June and then your Equifax report in October. That way you won’t have wait 12 months to again see your report without paying. You definitely don’t want identity thieves to have that large of a window to work with. However, they don’t always share information like they should, so this is a better but not a foolproof method.
There are three other ways that you can get a free credit report, although one and two are probably not ones you’ll want to have to use. The first is if you get denied for a loan, job or insurance policy because of your credit history. When this event occurs, you have 30 days to request your report, although you can only get it from the credit bureau the lender checked with in order to determine your eligibility. The second is if you are unemployed and applying for government assistance. (In some cases you can also get free credit reports if you can prove you’re already a victim of identity theft.)
The third way to get your credit reports for free, and usually as many times as you wish per year, is to register for an identity theft protection plan. Many plans will monitor your credit as well, including the credit report monitoring offered by each credit bureau. If you’re worried about your credit and are considering applying for a major loan, such as mortgage, sometime in the near future, this may be the way that you want to go. It’s a lot cheaper in the long run to pay a small sum for peace of mind than to trust that identity thieves will just leave you alone.
8.1 million Americans were victims of at least one type of identity theft in 2010. Most of these Americans probably thought that they were safe and may have even been checking their credit reports religiously every time January came around. At the least, switch to the staggering method instead of checking all of your reports at once. When you’re ready to take the next step, the information you need to find the right identity protection plan is waiting for you right here.