How to Find Out What Consumer Reporting Agencies Like Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are Reporting About You

Have you been denied a loan because of your credit report, but you don’t know what is on your credit report?  Have you been denied a job because of a background report, but you have no idea what is in the background report?  Do you suspect that background reporting companies are reporting inaccurate information about you, but prospective employers are not providing you with a copy of your report?  There are solutions for that.

First, every consumer in the United States has the ability to obtain free copies of their credit reports using www.annualcreditreport.com.  Once you enter identifying information into the system, you should be able to view copies of your credit reports from each of Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

Second, Section 1681g of the Fair Credit Reporting Act allows individuals to obtain a copy of their file from any consumer reporting agency upon request.  Specifically, Section 1681g requires consumer reporting agencies to provide, upon request, all information in a consumer’s file at the time of the request, the sources of the information (i.e., from where the consumer reporting agency obtained the information in the first place), and the identities of each entity or person who obtained a copy of the report.

If you send a written request to the consumer reporting agency, along with identification to prove who you are, you should receive your results within a few weeks.  Once you have a copy of your file, you should review it to see if there is any inaccurate information in it, or if the consumer reporting agency reported information to a potential creditor or employer that it was not allowed to report under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.