The Ultimate Guide to Credit Cards
Friday, October 11, 2024

The 3 Credit Bureaus: How and Why to Contact Them

How To Contact The Credit Bureaus
John Ulzheimer

Writer: John Ulzheimer

John Ulzheimer

John Ulzheimer, Credit Expert

John Ulzheimer is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring, and identity theft. The author of four books on the subject, Ulzheimer has been featured thousands of times in media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, NBC Nightly News, New York Times, CNBC, and countless others. With over 30 years of credit-related professional experience, including with both Equifax and FICO, Ulzheimer is the only recognized credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry. He has been an expert witness in over 600 credit-related lawsuits and has been qualified to testify in both federal and state courts on the topic of consumer credit. In his hometown of Atlanta, Ulzheimer is a frequent guest lecturer at the University of Georgia and Emory University's School of Law.

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Lillian Guevara-Castro

Editor: Lillian Guevara-Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro, Senior Editor

Lillian Guevara-Castro brings more than 30 years of editing and journalism experience to the CardRates team. She has worked at The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Gwinnett Daily News, Gainesville Sun, and The New York Times, where she covered demographics, consumer issues, and the business and financial sectors. Lillian has a degree in journalism and communications from Georgia State University and brings her fact-checking expertise to ensure Digital Brands content is accurate and engaging.

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Ashley Fricker

Reviewer: Ashley Fricker

Ashley Fricker

Ashley Fricker, Senior Editor

Ashley Fricker has more than a decade of experience as a finance contributor and editor, and has specialized in the credit card industry since 2015. Her credit card commentary is featured on national media outlets that include CNBC, MarketWatch, Investopedia, and Reader's Digest, among many others. She has worked closely with the world’s largest banks and financial institutions, up-and-coming fintech companies, and press and news outlets to curate comprehensive content and media. Ashley holds a bachelor's degree in multimedia journalism from Florida Atlantic University.

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Advertiser Disclosure

The three most recognized credit reporting agencies or credit bureaus in the United States are Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Each of these companies maintains credit report information on over 200 million Americans.

The amount of information these companies collectively house is staggering, and, as such, errors can occur.

In fact, according to a 2013 credit file accuracy study performed by the Federal Trade Commission, the most recent study of its type, 1 in 5 people have errors on at least one of their credit reports. That reveals how important it is for you to understand how to contact the credit bureaus.

Reasons to Contact the Bureaus

Most consumers typically have three reasons why they would want or need to contact a credit bureau. The first would be to get a copy of their credit reports, also formally referred to as the disclosure of a credit report.

The second would be to file disputes to have mistakes corrected or removed from a credit report.

The third reason would be to add either a fraud alert or a security freeze to a credit report, both of which are fraud prevention tools.

All three of these reasons for contacting the credit reporting agencies are free, so you can leave your credit card in your wallet because you’re not going to need it.

1. Credit Report Disclosure

Federal law entitles you to one free credit report every 12 months. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the credit reporting agencies are allowing free weekly credit reports for consumers through at least April 2021.

To claim your weekly free credit reports, you can contact the credit reporting agencies through their joint website, www.AnnualCreditReport.com.

AnnualCreditReport.com

AnnualCreditReport.com is the only website authorized by federal law to provide free credit reports.

This website was mandated in 2003 thanks to an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act called FACTA, which is the acronym for the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. In fact, this website is the one and only website mandated by law to provide free credit reports to consumers.

The credit reports you pull from this site are referred to as credit report disclosures because the site’s only purpose is to disclose copies of credit reports to consumers. The credit reports pulled from this website will contain a wealth of information about your credit-related relationships with lenders, your personal identifying information, and collection account and public records, if any apply to you.

You can also request free credit reports directly from each of the credit reporting agencies on their websites:

Your credit reports will include mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and, yes, your credit card accounts. In addition, these credit reports will include up to a 24-month history of balances and payments on your credit card accounts. This is called trended data, which is the chronology of how you’ve used credit cards over the last two years.

Keep in mind as you review your credit reports that the data is not in real time, meaning the balances are not your balances as of the date you pulled your credit reports. Most lenders, including credit card issuers, only report your information to the credit bureaus once every statement cycle period, which is monthly.

As a result, the information you see on your credit reports will be current, but only as of your most recent monthly statements.

2. Credit Report Disputes

The second reason you’d likely need to contact the credit reporting agencies would be to dispute information on your credit reports that you believe to be inaccurate.

In fact, it wouldn’t be uncommon for you to file credit report disputes after you’ve pulled copies of your credit reports from the www.AnnualCreditReport.com website or the other methods discussed above. That’s because, without knowing what’s on your credit reports, it’s hard to know whether the information is accurate.

If you want to dispute information on your credit reports, you have a variety of options for doing so, including online, via the USPS, or by phone.

Disputing Your Experian Credit Report

You can visit Experian’s online credit report dispute center if you would like to dispute information on your Experian credit report.

If you’d like to file a credit report dispute with Experian by mail, the address is:

Experian
P.O. Box 4500
Allen, TX 75013

If you’d like to file a credit report dispute with Experian by phone, you can contact them at (866) 200-6020.

Disputing Your Equifax Credit Report

You can visit Equifax’s online credit report dispute center if you would like to dispute information on your Equifax credit report.

If you’d like to file a credit report dispute with Equifax by mail, the address is:

Equifax Information Services, LLC
P.O. Box 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374

If you’d like to file a credit report dispute with Equifax by phone, you can contact them at (866) 349-5191 from 8 a.m. to midnight ET, seven days a week.

Disputing Your TransUnion Credit Report

You can visit TransUnion’s online credit report dispute center if you would like to dispute information on your TransUnion credit report.

If you’d like to file a credit report dispute with TransUnion by mail, the address is:

TransUnion Consumer Solutions
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016

If you’d like to file a credit report dispute with Experian by phone, you can contact them at (800)-916-8800.

3. Fraud Alerts and Security Freezes

You have several options to protect your credit reports if you are concerned that your personal information has been stolen or if someone has applied for credit in your name.

You can add one of a variety of fraud alerts to your credit reports or you can remove your credit reports from circulation by adding a security freeze, which is also called a credit freeze. This is the last of the three customary reasons why someone would contact a credit bureau.

Adding Fraud Alerts

A fraud alert is a statement on your credit reports that notifies lenders or other users of credit reports that you may have been the victim of fraud and that they should verify the authenticity of any credit application submitted in your name.

Lenders are obligated to incorporate reasonable procedures to verify that the application is legitimate. This is generally done by the lender calling you at the phone number you’ve included in the fraud alert.

Fraud alerts vary in the amount of time they remain on your credit reports. An initial fraud alert will last for only one year and will need to be renewed by you if you’d like it to remain longer.

Extended Fraud Alerts will last for seven years, but you are required to complete an FTC Identity Theft Report verifying that you’ve been the victim of fraud. Active Duty fraud alerts, for members of the military, will also last for one year and will need to be renewed at the end of that period.

You only need to file a fraud alert with one of the credit bureaus:

The credit bureau you file an alert with is then required to share your alert with the other two credit bureaus.

Adding A Security Freeze

A security freeze blocks access to your credit reports from all parties unless there is an existing relationship between you and the lender. Debt collectors can also access your credit reports to assist with their collection efforts even if your reports are frozen.

Security freezes prevent fraudulent accounts from being opened in your name because lenders can’t access your credit reports or scores without your permission. You control the access to your reports.

Unlike fraud alerts, you will need to contact each of the credit reporting agencies to place security freezes independently on all of your credit reports.

When you place a security freeze on your credit reports, you will be assigned a personal identification number or PIN. You’ll need your PIN to lift the security freeze, which you’ll need to do when you legitimately apply for credit.

Security freezes were, at one time, only free for consumers who were verified victims of fraud. However, a recent amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act signed by President Trump made security freezes free for everyone, whether you’ve been the victim of fraud or not.

Check Your Credit Reports Every Year

In sum, the most common reasons to contact the credit bureaus is to request copies of your credit reports, file disputes as to the accuracy of the data contained in your credit reports, and ensure that your personal and credit report information is protected from fraud.

These processes are all rights that you enjoy thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which is why consumers can get copies of their reports from each bureau free of charge.

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