Free Credit History Report

Insurance companies look for anything that will lower their risks in underwriting policies. They've found that there's a relationship between how you handle your finances and how responsibly you drive or maintain your home or health. So getting your free credit history report can alert you to any problems that an insurance company would look at when deciding how much you'll pay or if they'll insure you at all.

Often your credit is good, but there's an error which you spot when you get your free credit history report. The consumer reporting agencies that compile the reports rely on the information supplied by creditors and by companies who check public records. It's not uncommon for these sources to mix up files so that someone's else bad debt or bankruptcy could end up on your report.

Or maybe the error is one of omission, as when an account that's properly paid off is not noted on the report and so the debt can look like it was closed out unsatisfactorily. The United States Public Interest Research Group found that 70% of the credit reports they looked at had errors. And unless you check your free credit history report, it could be one of them.

Also keep in mind that the three major national reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, don't always get the same information and your credit report can be different for each one. But if you should find an error in your free credit history report, they must respond to your request to correct any non-frivolous error within 30 days. And should the problem not be corrected in an acceptable way, you have the legal right to insert a statement in your credit report. The statement explains your side of the issue and can be up to 100 words.