To Request Credit Report?
Q: After seeing a friend get a really screwed up credit report, I'd like to check up on mine. Does anybody have the information required to request them? Phone numbers to call if not address and what to ask for? Paranoid minds want to know.
A: -Be sure to include your full name, current address, previous addresses, Date of Birth. I also included a photocopy of my selective service card, showing my name and current address. I forgot what other form of ID would suffice. Oh yeah, TRW provides this free once a year. -There are no Federal laws limiting the price, though some state laws do. As of August 1992, Equifax was charging an average of $8, depending on state of residence. Trans Union was charging an average of $15.00, using the same criteria. TRW, after the first free report, was charging and average of $7.50. [As reported in the Chicago Tribune, August 6, 1992, Sec 3, Page 3] Sometimes you can get your report for free. See the next Q: Can I get a free copy of my own credit report? You can get a free copy of a report if the lender used that report to help decide to turn you down for credit, employment, or insurance within the last 30 days. See "I was refused a loan" in section 7, "Credit bureaus and your credit rating." To its credit, TRW extends that period to 60 days. Equifax and TRW will accept phone requests in this case only; see "Can I phone in my request," below. If you haven't recently been turned down, the answer is less clear: - TRW will provide one complimentary report per year. This is the result of a consent decree that settled lawsuits by 14 states. - Equifax and Trans Union are not under any legal obligation to provide free routine reports to consumers, but it appears they may be doing it anyway. If they do ask for a fee, you have no legal complaint. Anecdotal evidence suggests that both Equifax and Trans Union will provide free reports, but this is not always the case. From evidence received from email correspondants and personal attempts, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. You can send a request with your address and SSN to all three bureaus with the request "Please send me a copy of my credit report" -- no money, no statement of having been denied credit, and see what happens. Can I phone in my request? Here is current status as of 2 May 1992: - Equifax: call (800) 685-1111. This voice mail system will take your request if you were denied credit, employment, or insurance within the last 30 days based on an Equifax report. Otherwise, it will quote a price and tell you how to write for a copy of your report. - Trans Union: mail requests only, as far as I know. (The phone book says their main corporate number is (216) 779-7200, but I haven't called.) {Newsweek} advises checking local yellow pages under "credit reporting agencies" for phone numbers. - TRW: call (800) 392-1122. This voice mail system talks to you in Spanish or English. It will let you record your request if you were turned down for credit, employment, or insurance within the last 30 days based on a TRW report. Otherwise, it will quote a price and tell you how to write for a copy of your report. Caution: if your phone request gets lost, you'll have to write anyway. If your letter is later than 30 days after you were denied credit, employment, or insurance, you might have to pay for the report. It would be a good idea to mention in your letter the date that you requested the report by phone. Q804. Where do I mail my request for a credit report? - Equifax Information Service Center, P O Box 740241, Atlanta GA 30374-0241. FAX: (404) 612-2668. If you were denied credit, employment, or insurance within the last 30 days, you might get faster service by calling the voice mail menu; see "Can I phone in my request," above. - Trans Union Customer Relations Center, 25249 Country Club Blvd, P.O.Box 7000, North Olmsted OH 44070. - TRW, P O Box 2350, Chatsworth CA 91313-2350. If you were denied credit, employment, or insurance within the last 60 days, you might get faster service by calling the voice mail menu; see "Can I phone in my request," above. What information should I provide when requesting a report? If you have a letter denying you credit, employment, or insurance within the last 30 days, a copy of the letter should be enough for a report from the credit bureau that it names. If you're just requesting a routine copy, you can probably get it with just your name, address, and Social Security number. Either way, your report may be more complete if you also include your date of birth and previous address. (An email correspondent reported in late April 1992 that he sent postcards with just his name, address, and Social Security number and got reports from Equifax and Trans Union.) TRW, as part of its effort to create a "true partnership [with] consumers," according to a TRW memo published on Usenet by an employee, wants all the following information when you request a free routine report, and will refuse any requests that omit any all of it: "Full name of the consumer ... including middle initial and generation such as Jr., Sr., II, III, etc.; current address including ZIP code; previous addresses with ZIP codes for the past five years (if the consumer has moved); Social Security Number; year of birth; spouse's first name ...; [and] photocopy of a billing statement, utility bill, driver's license or other document that links the name of the consumer ... with the address the report should be mailed to." And do remember to sign your request. What are all those codes on my credit report? There should be a separate key or explanation mailed with the report. Sit down and spend some time to try to read it. If it still looks like Sanskrit, you might ask a trusted friend to go over it with you. Or someone in your personnel office at work, or the dean of students office at your school, or behind the railing at your bank, might be willing to help you. (It's not their job to do this, so remember that you're asking a favor. You may be charged a fee.) What are "inquiries" on my credit report? Whenever you or anyone else asks for a copy of your credit report, the request is supposed to be noted as part of your credit history. If you apply for lots of credit cards in a short time, this will produce a flurry of "inquiry" notes on your credit report. Lenders often turn this around and assume that a flurry of inquiries means you've recently applied for lots of credit, so they turn you down on that basis even though the inference is not strictly valid. If a lender cites "excessive inquiries" as a reason for turning you down, this is what has happened. The lender has guidelines for how many inquiries in what period of time is too many. Unfortunately, you have no legal right to challenge this policy or even to know what the specific criteria may be. Don't give your name or address to a merchant until you're actually ready to apply for credit there. Some merchants illegally run credit checks on you as soon as they have your name and address, even though you have not applied for credit, to give them an idea of what to sell you