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 Credit Report

Free Credit Report


Many people don't realize that Federal law entitles them to receive a free credit report once a year. The fact is that under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), everyone is entitled to request and receive their free credit report once in any twelve-month period.


There are several good reasons why anyone should order their free credit report and review it every year, and it doesn't end with the possibility of identity theft (although this is certainly one excellent reason to get your free credit report every year). More importantly, looking over your free credit report each year gives you a chance to check for errors, misstatements and omissions - which wind up in credit reports more often than one might think.

The sad fact is that credit scores are increasingly being used as a weapon against working people and the middle class to keep them economically oppressed and enslaved, and unless you stay on top of it by ordering your free credit report each year, chances are that any or all of the major credit reporting bureaus and the corporate banks and lending institutions that report to them will find a way to include inaccurate information that will enrich them at your expense.

This said, you need to understand that these lending institutions, free of the laws and regulations that once kept them in check, make little profit on people with good credit ratings. It is therefore in their interest to keep their corporate jackboot on the necks of as many consumers as possible. One way that they do this is by "re-aging" accounts.

This is something to be aware of and look for in your free credit report. By law, negative items such as charge-offs and bankruptcies must be dropped from your credit report after a certain amount of time has passed. Often, lenders and even these credit reporting bureaus themselves change the date of an item so it can remain on your credit report longer and continue to hurt you.

The good news is that despite the rampant deregulation of the past thirty years that allows these corporate parasites to pretty much do as they please, there are still a few laws on the books that protect your rights. If there is inaccurate information on your free credit report and you are able to provide documentation proving it wrong, they must by law change the information or face fines and other penalties.

 
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