Different credit agencies may hold different data on you, especially if there are some items that should have been removed from the report because they are more than seven years old. You can request a copy of the report from all three companies and this will also give you access to your credit score. Errors on any of your credit reports will adversely affect your credit rating and could make it very hard for you to get a loan, take out a credit card or rent an apartment. There is a central website for all three national reporting agencies and there is a mailing address and a toll free number for you to order a copy of your report from each of the credit agencies. You can either call them or fill in the Annual Credit Report Request Form that you can download from the website. You are allowed by law to order one copy from each of the national agencies once a year. When you get your free credit report you will have to pay for a copy of your credit score as this is not supplied free with the annual report.

There are a lot of scams these days and credit reporting is no different. You should not fill out forms on any website other than the official one, which is annualcreditreport.com, other websites claiming to provide credit reports are imposters. You should not enter your personal information for a credit report on any but the official website as it is all too easy for unscrupulous individuals to steal your identity.

Once you have received your credit reports you should check each of them to make sure that you agree with the information that they contain. If any item is listed more than once or if there are debts on them that are older than seven years, you can apply to have these removed as they affect your credit score. Insurance agents, rental agencies, banks and any company offering credit can access your report to see whether you or not you are a credit risk. If you can get erroneous entries removed from the reports this can help to repair your credit rating and improve your credit score. A professional company such as the Vivix Credit Solutions network of service providers can help you with credit repair if necessary.