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As consumers, we should approve of the idea that we have the ability to review our credit histories annually for free at the major credit reporting agencies. The top three credit reporting companies are: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

According to a ruling amending the Fair Credit Reporting Act (”FCRA”), each consumer is allowed to get an annual report from each of the aforementioned credit bureaus. A unique strategy to obtaining or “pulling” all three of your personal credit reports at the same time each year, is to request a report from a different credit reporting agency once every four months. This allows you to have access throughout the year to your credit reports providing a continuous level of credit profile monitoring.

Additionally, there are certain other occasions when a consumer is eligible to get a free copy of his/her personal credit report and those following free credit report provisions are described below.

The reason for writing this article today is that I accidentally clicked on a Yahoo webpage and up popped a free personal credit report offer. The male character that is sometimes dressed up like a pirate and plays a guitar makes the offer. You may possibly have seen this character on TV lately as the commercial is played often.

There are two primary reasons that credit reporting bureaus are advertising to you and your desired interest to review your credit reports. The first reason is that want to sell you credit protection which is not cheap. Often companies put out an ad for a free personal credit report through an offer wrapped in a free trial membership like the “Triple AdvantageSM Credit Monitoring”. If you forget to cancel after the free trial period then you are charged $14.95 per month. Of course the companies hope you forget to cancel so you will automatically become a paying member.

The second, and more insidious reason these companies are after your business is to sell your financial data to others, naming you as a consumer that’s in play. Until we demanded the credit reporting bureaus and data warehouses to cease, our marketing firm would get countless number of calls attempting to sell us “trigger leads.” A consumer who has just has their personal credit report pulled is considered a trigger lead. The prevailing belief is that this particular consumer is in some stage of the buying cycle and thus a target for marketing contact.

It is still possible to request your free personal credit report or have another individual pull your credit without becoming a trigger lead. If you are named as a hot trigger lead be ready for an onslaught of written and telephone marketing pitches attempting to sell you everything under the sun. However, there are ways to protect your privacy. Make a Google search for “trigger leads” + “privacy” and you will find lots of resources to help you.

Related posts:

1. Free Annual Credit Report Online
2. Building Up Your Personal Credit Rating
3. Free Triple Credit Reports
4. How Do Late Payments Affect My Credit Report And Score?
5. Cheap 3 in 1 Credit Report