Equifax Credit Report

Checking Your Credit

Before I make any type of major purchase that may involve financing I have always found that checking my credit before I start the financing process can take a huge load off of my mind.

Why take the time to check my credit when the finance company will do it for me anyway?

I personally prefer not to be blindsided by any blemishes that I might not be aware of or any inaccuracies.  The worst time to find out about any credit problems is when you are standing in the middle of a department store trying to open a charge account or attempting to purchase a new vehicle.

After being surprised about some unpaid debts that I didn’t recall when applying for a loan I decided to start getting a copy of my Equifax credit report before applying for anything that might need to be financed.

Why Choose Equifax

My decision to focus on my Equifax credit report was based primarily on the fact that the majority of companies I dealt with used Equifax to perform credit checks.  Also, I noticed that many inaccuracies that later appeared on all of my credit reports would first appear on my Equifax report.

By checking Equifax I was usually able to catch, and correct, any errors before they had a chance to seriously impact my credit score.

How to Get an Equifax Report

The Equifax website makes it easy and affordable for anyone to get a copy of their current credit report.  If you are able to answer a few questions to confirm your identity by answering some questions and pay online using a credit report then you will be able to view your report instantly.  In the event that you want to check your credit report on a more or less constant basis you can also sign up for one of their various credit monitoring services.

These credit monitoring services will allow you convenient, online access to your credit report and will send you notifications if there are ever any changes to your credit report.  The services almost always include a free trial that is anywhere from two weeks to one month long.  This will let you get a feel for the service while having access to your credit report.

Along with the monitoring service there is another benefit to ordering your credit report online.  If you notice any discrepancies Equifax will let you start a dispute online by filling out a simple questionnaire.  Depending on the seriousness and complexity of your dispute Equifax will determine how to handle it.  Once the dispute is concluded Equifax can notify you either online or by mail.

Another way to get a copy of your credit report is to write a physical letter and mail it to Equifax along with a payment.  The cost of a single Equifax credit report is anywhere between $6.95 and $10.95.   After making your request Equifax will mail you your credit report in a month.

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