The FCRA determines who may gain access to your credit report. Creditors (Lenders), Insurance companies, employers along with other business that use information contained in your credit report to evaluate applications for credit, employment, insurance, or home rental are among those that have the legal rights to access your credit reports. Your employer can only get a copy of your credit report if you agree. The consumer reporting companies may not under law disclose any information from your credit report to your employer or prospective employer unless they first obtain written permission to do so from you.

You can obtain a FREE Credit Report from Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union by completing and mailing the Annual Credit Report Request Form to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. This form can be printed from www.ftc.gov/credit There is also a toll free telephone number to call to request a copy of your free credit report: 1-877-322-8228. You will need to provide the following information to get your free credit reports: Your Social Security number, your name and address including your previous address if you have moved in the past two years, your date of birth, as well as some other information that only you would know such as the amount of your monthly mortgage payment.

If you request a copy of your free credit report online, you will be able to obtain it right away. If you call in or mail your request with the Annual Credit Report Request Form, your request will be processed and mailed to you within 15 business days after its receipt. This time period may take longer if the nationwide consumer reporting company needs more information to confirm your identity. If there happens to be an abnormally high volume of requests for free credit reports at the time you request yours, you will be notified that your report will be mailed to you sometime after 15 days of receipt.

To purchase a copy of your credit report, you may call the consumer reporting companies direct with the following telephone numbers:

Equifax: 1-800-685-1111 Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (1-888-397-3742) Trans Union: 1-800-916-8800

The cost to buy a copy of your credit report is generally $9.50 or less for each agency.

Each nationwide consumer reporting company gets information from different sources so the information contained in any one report may not be the same. The information may not reflect all of your credit info so requesting a free copy of your credit report from all three major agencies is the best way to get the full story of your credit.