The FACT Act

The FACT Act, which stands for Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions, was signed by President Bush in late 2003. This act made significant changes and additions to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Some of the main benefits of the FACT Act are:

  1. The Act entitles consumers to obtain one free copy of their credit report every twelve months; 

  2. It increases the standard for the accuracy of information furnished to credit reporting agencies; 

  3. It creates a right to a credit score from a credit reporting agency for a reasonable fee;

  4. The FACT Act also requires a lender or broker who is considering a home loan application to provide a credit score without a fee; 

  5. This act includes the addition of certain rights for identity theft victims and measures intended to prevent identity theft, including a duty on creditors to take certain steps before granting credit when a fraud alert is contained in a credit file or accompanies a credit score.

You can read a more in-depth discussion of the FACT Act on Wikipedia.

How Do I Order My Free Credit Report?

One of the provisions of the FACT Act was the establishment of central website where individuals could go to obtain a free annual copy of their credit report from each of the three credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax). 

There are three ways to order your free annual credit report:

  1. Order your report online at www.annualcreditreport.com (you should be able to view it instantly).

  2. Call 877-322-8228 to request your report (it should be mailed within 15 days).

  3. Complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to:

Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
(your report will be mailed out within 15 days after receiving your request form

What If There Are Errors on My Credit Report?

The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that both the credit bureau which provides the credit report and the the person or company that provides information about you to the credit bureaus are responsible for correcting inaccurate or incomplete information in your report. To find out more on how to dispute items on your credit report, you can read the article on disputing a credit report mistake.

Below are more articles on credit that you may find helpful:

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