Get your credit report for free.

Knowing what your credit looks like before you go to buy a home can mean the world of differences. The federal government has passed a law allowing you access to a copy of your credit report on an annual basis at no charge. The only catch is that you have to do it through the web site the government has established. You can not go to the individual credit bureau's web sites or to a resellers web site to get this information for free. The web site set up for this purpose is https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp. This copy of your credit report will not have your credit score, but will let you review and dispute anything that is appearing on your credit report that is not genuinely yours.

What is a credit score?
The most widely used credit scores are FICO® scores. Lenders use FICO scores to make billions of credit decisions every year. Fair Isaac develops FICO scores based solely on information in consumer credit reports maintained at the credit reporting agencies. Click here for a brochure that explains more about the FICO score and answers basic questions about credit scores.