Consumer credit files are held with the main credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion and they contain the personal credit history of millions of consumers around the world.  Because each credit report contains important personal information, each consumer has a right to see their credit reports under The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and the credit bureaus are also required by law to ensure that these reports are correct and complete, so you also have a right to challenge any erroneous or suspicious entries on your report. Learn more about id protection.

All consumers are entitled to a free annual copy of their credit report, which they can request in writing, via the website or by contacting the credit bureau by telephone, so you must be very wary of any third party companies attempting to ‘sell’ you a copy of your own credit report for a small fee.  If you want to more than one copy of your credit report in the same year you may have to pay a small fee to the credit bureau though as they are only required by law to provide you with one free copy every 12 months, however if you have received a denial for a credit application because of the details supplied by the credit reference bureau you are entitled to claim another free copy of your report as long as you request it within 30 days of receiving the application denial notice.

Consumers also have the right to know exactly who has been accessing their credit reports, which financial institutions and lenders do regularly in order to send out pre-approved credit offers and if you decide you do not want anyone to access your report in the future you can set up a credit lock or ‘freeze’ which will prevent anyone from requesting copies of your report.  This will prevent you from requesting credit yourself in the future, so you will need to unlock or unfreeze your report if you intend to apply for a new credit card, bank account or any other credit product.