Online Credit Report

How to get a Free Online Credit Report.

Note: There have been complaints recently about services offering free credit reports online. Go directly to Equifax or Transunion rather than using a third party to get your credit report.

If your credit report is not what you want it to be, you might be looking for ways to fix it. The first thing you need to do when you are contemplating on credit repair is to get your credit report. Your credit report tells you where you exactly stand. Your potential lenders are looking at this report too, when you make your credit applications. Hence, it is quite important that you take a look at it too and find out what’s amiss.

There is another reason why you should go check out your credit report. Remember that the credit scoring institutions are not sacrosanct. They can make mistakes too. You have a right to ask for the correction of these mistakes. Once you have your credit report, you can find out about these. If there’s a payment that you didn’t make or a late payment mentioned that was actually on time, you could ask the credit reporting agency to rectify that mistake. When you submit such an application, the credit reporting agency must respond to you within 30 days. So, this is your chance to improve your credit report.

Now, how do you go about getting your credit report? The best thing, of course, is to apply for the credit report online. That way, you get your report without much hassle and from the convenience of your home. You also get the report almost instantly, without needing to wait for several days for it to arrive by email.

But the best reason is this – you can get your report yourself without involving a third party. These people take commissions for something that you can very well do yourself.

You are entitled to one free online credit report a year, from all the major credit reporting agencies. So, have you checked your credit report this year?

If, for any reason, you need another credit report, you can get it too, but you will have to pay a nominal sum. However, you must remember that each time you ask for your credit report, it reflects badly on the overall score. Also, each time that you apply for finance, the lenders will make a credit check. This also reflects badly on your score. Just as you would only apply for credit when it is absolutely essential, you should also ask for your credit report only when it is absolutely necessary.

You must know that there are two online credit reporting agencies in the Canada – they are Equifax Canada Inc., and Trans Union of Canada, Inc. To get the online credit report from any of them, you have to visit their sites by clicking the links above. You will find a tab for applying for an online credit report. Once there, you have to reply to a few verification questions and give some personal information which will help the companies establish your identity. With this information given, the credit reporting companies will immediately give you online access to your credit report.

You could also get credit reports from both of these sites. It is a good idea to check out both credit reports because there could be errors in any one of them, and that could reflect in your overall credit score.