Free Annual Credit Report

by waybeyondthebeltway on December 31, 2008 in Americans Abroad with 6 Comments

As I wrote last year, regular checks of your credit report are an important as aspect of fiscal management and under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (“FACT Act”) all Americans have a legal right to a free credit report annually.

The FACT Act requires the big three credit reporting agencies–Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to provide consumers with one free credit report per year. The official website through which to request these free yearly credit reports is AnnualCreditReport.com. However, as I started the annual check of my credit this month, I was surprised to discover that clicking on the AnnualCreditReport.com link from abroad still returns the following error message:

The AnnualCreditReport.com website is only accessible through ISPs (Internet Service Providers)

located within the United States and its territories.

It is worth reiterating that the FACT Act covers all Americans, but the 4-6 million+ Americans living abroad and required by U.S. law to pay U.S. taxes cannot access AnnualCreditReport.com. Thus Americans abroad remain unable to exercise their legal right to a free annual credit report via AnnualCreditReport.com and must instead contact each of the big three by other means to get the free annul credit report to which they are entitled. The credit reporting agencies should remedy this defect and, if not, Congress should act.

waybeyondthebeltway
I live in Stockholm, Sweden. Before moving here I was a United States Senate Judiciary Committee Counsel, where I provided legal and legislative advice on a wide range of subjects. I have an insider's understanding of the workings of Capitol Hill and I'm an experienced campaign operative. Today, I work as a government relations consultant and I'm a regular lecturer at the Stockholm University Law Faculty on the subject of the U.S. Legislative Process.
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  • jenna

    You can not view that bureau’s report until the next year if you have already viewed it this year. So anything added after you have viewed it, you will not see on that report until the following year unless you pay to see it or to be updated with changes regarding your report. Read out about annualcreditreport com
    :)
    ** Keep in mind, the more inquiries you have towards your credit report, the more strikes against you.

  • http://www.annual-credit-report.biz annualcreditreport

    Good piece.

  • http://www.on-freeannualcreditreport.com/annualcreditreport/where-to-get-free-annual-credit-report.html freeannualcreditreport

    To access to this site you must live in America and use only America ISP. It doesn’t matter your are US resident or not, it check from IP connected to its site. to get more detail you can visit www freeannualcreditreport com for more detail about annualcreditreport.com

  • http://www.waybeyondthebeltway.com waybeyondthebeltway

    Obviously. That is precisely the problem. American citizens cannot access the site unless they are in the US, but the law was intended to protect all Americans, including the 6 million plus that work live and serve abroad.

  • Pingback: www.annualcreditreport.com » Blog Archive

  • http://free-personal-credit-report.blogspot.com/ Free Personal Credit Report

    Checking your credit report annually is a must for everyone. Especially these days when identity theft is rampant.

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