Tip of the week:

Due to the passage of the 2003 Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA), all Americans are entitled to, upon request, one free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies every 12 months. The three major agencies are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

You should always check your credit reports several months in advance of any major purchases that will require credit (houses, cars, boats, TV’s). Checking these 3-6 months in advance will allow you time to correct any errors to ensure the highest credit score possible, giving you the best interest rate possible, and saving you money.

If you don’t plan to make any major purchases in the near future, you should add reminders to you calendar to request your credit report from one of the three agencies in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. For example, you may get your Equifax report in March, your Experian report in July, and your TransUnion report in November. This way, you’re constantly reviewing your information to make sure there are no errors, and more importantly, that someone hasn’t stolen your identity and opened up new credit lines. In March of the following year you can start over again with Equifax since it will have been twelve months.

You can visit annualcreditreport.com to request your free credit reports.