Forex

If you've ever applied for a charge account, a personal loan, insurance, or a job, there's a file about you. This file contains information on where you work and live, how you pay your bills, and whether you've been sued, arrested, or filed for bankruptcy. Companies that gather and sell this information are called Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRA's). The most common type of CRA is the credit bureau. The information CRA's sell about you to creditors, employers, insurers, and other businesses is called a consumer report, or in the case of credit bureaus, a credit report.

Checking your credit report is the best way to gauge the risk you pose to prospective lenders such as banks, loan officers, and landlords. Getting your credit report is easy, and can be done online. The "Big Three" credit bureaus are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
While many lending institutions report consumer credit information to all three bureaus, some report only to one, so your credit report might differ slightly from one bureau to another. You can order your credit report from each agency individually, or order all three at once from sites such as TrueCredit. We recommend that you check your credit report at least once every two years, and immediately prior to any significant borrowing you're anticipating.

Getting your credit report isn't free (usually), but it is inexpensive. Credit bureaus can charge no more than $8 for your report. However, there's no charge if a company takes adverse action against you, such as denying your application for credit, insurance or employment, and you request your report within 60 days of receiving the notice of the action. The notice will give you the name, address, and phone number of the credit bureau to contact. In addition, you're entitled to one free report a year if you can prove that you're unemployed and plan to look for a job within 60 days, or if you're on welfare, or if your report is inaccurate because of fraud.