Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Grab Your Free Once-a-Year Credit Report Before the Year's End [Credit]

From Lifehacker:

Grab Your Free Once-a-Year Credit Report Before the Year's End [Credit]:

Grab Your Free Once-a-Year Credit Report Before the Year's EndDon't be part of the 96% of people who don't claim their free credit reports. Grab yours today as part of some year-end financial housekeeping and avoid losing that freebie, valuable for catching errors on your report.


As the Mint blog reminds us, everyone in the US is entitled to a free credit report at annualcreditreport.com (make sure you go there rather than similar-sounding sites like FreeCreditReport.com). You might also be entitled to additional free credit reports depending on where you live:



If you live in Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Puerto Rico or Vermont, then you're entitled to an additional free credit report every year. If you live in Georgia or Puerto Rico, you get two additional freebies. You'll have to request these additional credit reports directly from the credit bureaus.



The annual free credit report doesn't include the credit score provided by the bureaus, but you can get an estimate of your score from previously mentioned CreditKarma or Credit Sesame.


Why bother? While credit scores aren't everything, what your report says and the score you have influence not just how much credit you can get, but also, possibly, whether or not you get a job you apply for. So it pays to check and improve your credit score.


Read the rest of the Mint article for more "credit housekeeping" you should do this month.


Update: You can get the free credit report once every 12 months from each of the three major bureaus, calculated from the date of the last credit report you received from that bureau, so it doesn't have to be done in December. But the year-end is a good reminder to do this as well as other personal finance moves that can save you tax money. Thanks chiieddy!


Credit Housekeeping Before Year's End | MintLife



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