Like a lot of other personal finance bloggers, I’m a huge fan of Annual Credit Report. Unlike a lot of other services, this one is actually free and since you’re requesting it, it does not cause a hard inquiry on your account. Each year, you can get a free credit report from each of the three reporting credit bureaus: Experian, Transunion, and Equifax. You can get all three of them at once, or you can spread them out over the course of the year, getting them evenly once every 4 months. You have to wait 12 months to get a free report from the same bureau, so choose carefully.

I tried to get my free credit report online through Equifax awhile ago but was denied for some reason. I tried again a few weeks later but again got rejected. It wasn’t all that important to me at the time because I haven’t noticed any fraudulent behavior, but when the same thing happened a few months later, I got curious. I don’t need the credit report, but since I’m entitled to one, I definitely want to find out what’s going on!

I looked through some of the details and requested that they mail me my report. A few weeks later the full report arrived, and everything looked normal. I saw all of my accounts, everything was up-to-date, and I still had no answer as to why I couldn’t receive the same information online.

Then, I noticed the error. My birth date was wrong. I was born in August but the report showed I had a birth date in May. How dare they!

This isn’t something that had changed, so I don’t know why my access was suddenly revoked, but my next mission was to get this changed. I couldn’t just call them and tell them that they were wrong (I couldn’t but that wouldn’t change anything for the future), so I knew I’d have to send them some real verification in order to correct their error.

I filled out a form online and they accepted it and said to send in a copy of my passport and a copy of my license, both of which have my correct birth date on them.

I scanned them in, printed them out, and sent away my information. A few weeks later I got a report saying it had been updated and they would notify the other credit bureaus of the correction.

Pretty easy if you ask me! A little bit of a hassle but I’m glad to see that it’s taken care of now.

While scanning my license, I did find another error, this time on my California license. Somehow, they had me listed as “Sex: F”

Oh, no! I get the feeling the DMV is going to be a lot more of a hassle than the credit bureaus.

When applying for a home loan or personal short term loans, having the highest FICO credit score possible helps you get the lowest possible interest rate.a personal loan, having the highest FICO credit score possible helps you get the lowest possible interest rate. Many factors are considered to create each person’s FICO score including available credit, outstanding credit, timeliness of payments, and length of credit among other things. Many of these factors are created through years of credit history and are not easily changed.

However, before applying for a home loan or personal loan, pull a copy of your credit report. You can get a free credit report once a year from each of the three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) at Annual Credit Report. Carefully look through your credit report for any errors; unfortunately, the majority of credit reports do contain errors.

To fix an error on your credit report, send a certified letter to the offending credit reporting agency and identify the mistake; you may even want to include a copy of your credit report with the error circled. Make sure to give your full name and address. Include copies of documentation to prove that the credit report is indeed in error. Under law, the credit reporting agency must respond to your claim within 30 days. If the credit agency agrees that your report is incorrect, they must fix the mistake and notify the other two credit bureaus. In addition, make sure you contact the creditor directly with the same letter and information so they can correct your records.

The simple act of making sure your credit report is correct and cleaning up any errors if it is incorrect can save you a great deal of money in interest when applying for a home loan or a personal loan. Doing so is usually well worth the time it takes.