Home buyers have probably heard all of the commercials encouraging you to check your free credit report. There are multiple companies that will help you do this, but there are also plenty of scammers out there trying to trick you out of your information.
You are entitled to receive a free credit report from each of the reporting companies—TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax—but you need to know how to obtain it.
Below are the how and why home buyers should go about getting their credit report.
How to pull your credit report
Home buyers can obtain your credit report from the website AnnualCreditReport.com. This site allows you to view your free credit report. There are many other websites that claim you can do the same, but they have monthly fees hidden away in the fine print of the site.
Be aware that you will never need to enter your credit card number when receiving a free credit report. This is a red flag that you are not using a legitimate company or that they are trying to confuse you into additional charges.
AnnualCreditReport.com is approved by the government. You can pull your report through the website, call 877-322-8228 or complete a form online to receive your report via the mail.
In order to obtain your report you will need to provide your personal information. This includes your name, address, social security number, date of birth, and any previous addresses if you haven’t been in your current residence for at least two years.
What to look for on your credit report
The first thing most potential home buyers want to see is their credit score. This information is not included in your free credit report. You can obtain your credit score from sites like MyFico.com and CreditKarma.com. Depending on what type of credit cards you have, your credit score might be listed on your monthly statement.
When you are looking at your credit report you want to make sure that all the information is accurate. There could be errors on your report that are pulling down your scores. If you find errors, begin working as soon as possible to correct them as it can take months to make this happen. If you are in the process of purchasing a house, the sooner you have it corrected, the easier it will be for you to get approved.
Other alternatives
If you were denied for a loan, the lender is required to provide you with a free credit report if you ask. This will help you to see the reasons why you have been denied and verify the information.
Lenders look at your credit report to see if you are a safe risk to loan money to. They want to see how much debt you currently have and if you are responsible at paying it back.
If they see that you have defaulted or are delinquent on your current accounts, it sends up a red flag that you are not a good risk to loan funds to. Knowing what your credit report looks like can help you see areas that you need to improve and make sure that nothing is showing that should not be listed.
