Grab your free annual credit report fast!

Now consumer credit reporting companies (Equifax, Transunion and Experian) are required to provide you with a free copy of your Free Annual Credit Report according to a recent change to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. Consumers could retrieve their free credit report once every 12 months using the governments free credit report site, or more if they use a third party service to make the request for them.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that Equifax, Transunion and Experian all provide accuracy and privacy of consumer information when you use their websites online to obtain your yearly credit report free. Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission, (the US consumer protection agency), oversees and enforces the FCRA with respect to consumer reporting companies.

When you make a request to access your Annual Free Credit Report you are allowed to get the report from either Equifax, Transunion or Experian or any combination of the three. A lot of people choose to request it from only one free credit reporting agency at a time so that they can request additional checks throughout the year. If you are access your free credit report prior to applying for a loan, you should investigate to see which agency the loan office checks and get your credit report from that company. This will ensure that you have the same information that your lenders are seeing.

The Federal Trade Commission (FT), the nation's consumer protection agency, enforces the FCRA with respect to consumer reporting companies. It's your choice that you may order one, two, or all three reports at the same time, or you may stagger requests.

I hope after going through these guidelines one can obtain their annual credit report for free within 5 minutes.