Free credit reports

Northwestern Financial Review, Mar 15-Mar 31, 2005 by Bengtson, Tom

I could hardly wait until March 1. That was the first day I could get a free credit report. I turned on my computer, went to the Internet, and tried to get reports from each of the agencies. On a four-star scale, I would say I got a two-star experience.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act required the three credit reporting agencies to make reports available for free. People living on the West Coast have been able to get their reports since December 1. Most of the states in the Midwest had to wait until March 1, and the rest of the country phases in June 1 and September 1. Equifax, Experian and Trans Union are participating; reports can be obtained via the Internet, by phone or through the mail. Consumers are entitled to one free report from each company, one time per year. A consumer can get all three reports at the same time, or stagger the requests to get them throughout the year.

Bankers should encourage customers to take advantage of this service. More information can only make for better credit customers. www.ftc.gov is a good place to start for more info on the free credit reports.

My portal to the three companies was www.annualcreditreport.com. The site worked well, although I was disappointed that each time I returned to the site after completing a download from one of the agencies, I had to reenter my personal information.

Equifax was the first company I visited, and it turned out to be my best experience of the three. I got an 18-page report on my credit situation, but most interesting was a unique report called the Equifax Credit Ranking. This little service tells me how my debt stacks up against peers, such as those living in my zip code area, my state and my country. For example, the report told me the average Minnesotan has $828 outstanding in credit card debt, the average person living in my zip code area has $863 and the average person in the United States has $972. I got similar reports for average car payments and mortgage payments. I was intrigued to learn that the average person in my neighborhood pays a $380 monthly car payment. That compares with a state average of $490 and a national average of $534.

Experian also provided a comprehensive report, although without the cool comparison data. I spent about a half an hour trying to access the Trans Union site, but never succeeded. I kept getting a message that said "site temporarily unavailable." Oh well. There must have been a lot of other people trying to get on the site the first day it was available to us.

If you haven't already tried to do this on your own, I encourage you to do so. Bankers should be pointing the way to this valuable service.

By Tom Bengtson, Publisher