In this credit based society, being in debt is usually thought of as a normal fact of life for many Americans, and it is… but it doesn’t need to be. Being in debt and/or having a poor credit rating WILL hurt you financially in the long-run more than you might realize.

The inverse is of course that saving regularly and having an excellent credit rating will give you more financial freedom & self-sufficiency.

This series of posts is about taking the steps necessary to achieve freedom from debt with the goal of having more financial options, sticking to the basics that most people overlook until inconveniently too late… and will cover these 4 basic steps:

• Knowing Your Credit
• Automating Your Accounts
• Paying off Your Credit Card Debt
• Establishing an Excellent Credit Rating

The first step is to know your credit, and in order to do that, you need your credit report.

Get Your Free Annual Credit Report

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Each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies… Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion… are required by law (the Fair Credit Reporting Act) to provide upon your request a free copy of your credit report once every 12 months. These three companies are providing free annual credit reports ONLY:

• through the central website they each sponsor… annualcreditreport.com (beware ALL other sites);
• by calling 1-877-322-8228;
• or by mail:
  Annual Credit Report Request Service,
  P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

Disregard ANY email asking you for any information; any advertisement; or any phone call from anybody claiming to be a representative of annualcreditreport.com or any of the three nationwide credit reporting companies… there are many identity theft scams out there… report such activity to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by forwarding unsolicited commercial email (spam), including phishing messages, to the FTC at spam@uce.gov.

Every year, make absolutely sure that all the information on your credit report is accurate, complete, and current.

If, after you get your free credit report you find inaccurate information, you may ask the nationwide consumer credit reporting company who sent you your credit report, to place a “FRAUD ALERT” on your file so creditors know that you might be a victim of identity theft. A fraud alert makes potential creditors follow certain protection procedures… making it difficult for identity thieves to obtain your credit. To place a fraud alert on your file, call one of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies… that company must notify the other two, who will also put a fraud alert on their copy of your file:

• Equifax: 1-877-576-5734; equifax.com
• Experian: 1-888-397-3742; experian.com
• TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; transunion.com

Not only do you want to make sure that nobody has stolen your identity… your credit report is a reflection of who you are as a person, so first make sure that your first financial impression is an accurate one… then you can begin working on making it an excellent one.

You can read more detail about the process of getting your credit report from the FTC.

The next article in this series is, Automate Your Accounts.

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