Consumer’s EdgeConsumer’s Edge
Consumer Protection Division, Maryland Office of the Attorney General
Credit Reports
It Pays to Check Your Credit Every Year
Have you checked your credit report lately? Have you
ever checked it? You should, because what’s in that re-
port can have a significant impact on your life. If there’s
something negative in your report, you could be turned
down for a credit card, mortgage, job, apartment, or in-
surance. Even if you are not turned down, the contents
of your credit report may increase the interest rate or
premium you have to pay, and can affect the spending
limit you are offered. The federal Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau (CFPB) advises consumers to check
their credit reports at least once a year to:
1. Look for and fix mistakes that could
hurt your ability to get credit
2. Be sure your information is correct and
up-to-date
3. Guard against identity theft
Mistakes in your credit reports, or fraud caused by iden-
tity theft, can make borrowing more expensive or pre-
vent you from getting credit.
You Can Obtain Your Credit Reports Annually
for Free
Federal law allows consumers to receive a free copy of
their credit reports every 12 months by going to annual-
creditreport.com. This is the only authorized source un-
der federal law that provides free credit reports from the
three major national credit reporting companies (also
known as Credit Reporting Agencies); Equifax, Expe-
rian, and TransUnion. Other websites that promise free
credit reports may require you to sign up for “free trials”
that eventually charge you or to purchase other products
or services you may not need.
In addition, Maryland law gives its residents the right to
a free annual copy of their credit report. This means you
can review your credit report six times a year for free
(two free reports from each agency).
How to Request Your Credit Reports
Under federal law: You can receive free copies of your
credit reports from each of the three major credit report-
ing companies every 12 months by going to the only
federally-authorized website, or by calling its toll free
number:
• Online: www.annualcreditreport.com
• By phone: Call toll-free: 1-877-322-8228
If ordering online, be sure to type in the website address
exactly. There are commercial websites with similar
names that may try to get you to pay a fee for your re-
ports or to buy other products. Also, beware of pop-up
ads, e-mails or telemarketing calls that promise to ob-
tain your free credit report for you. Responding to these
solicitations may cost you money. Remember to dou-
ble-check that you are using the federally-authorized
website. To request your reports, you will need to pro-
vide personal information such as your name, address,
Social Security number, and date of birth.
Issue #121
January 2019
Anthony G. Brown, Maryland Attorney General
Under Maryland law: To order your free credit report
under Maryland law, you must contact each credit report-
ing company directly. The simplest and most straightfor-
ward method is to order them online at the following
links:
• Equifax: www.equifax.com/fcra. Under the
section called “Reason for Credit File Request,”
click the bubble for “Free State Credit File (not
denied),” and fill out the forms as prompted.
• Experian: www.experian.com/freestate. Fol-
low the instructions for ordering a free copy un-
der Maryland law.
• TransUnion: www.transunion.com/credit-re-
ports-disclosures/free-credit-report. Check the
bubble indicating that you are eligible to receive
a free or reduced price copy of your Personal
Credit Report under state law, and then fill out
the forms as prompted.
Important Notes:
1. All three companies will ask you for your So-
cial Security number to process your request.
It is okay to give it to them in this context; they
use the number to link you to the proper credit
report. In other circumstances, it may be unsafe
to give out your Social Security number. Make
sure you trust the person or organization request-
ing any personal information before giving it to
them.
2. Should you request all reports at once
or staggered?
You can request your report from each of
the three credit reporting companies at once,
or you can only order one or two at a time.
If you order all three, you will get the most
complete picture of what is being reported
about you at that point in time. The compa-
nies use different sources, so some information
may show up in one report but not another. On
the other hand, people who are knowledgeable
about identity theft recommend staggering the
reports, requesting a different one every two
months, which may help you spot suspicious
activity as soon as possible.
3. Obtaining additional free copies.
In addition to being entitled to free annual copies
of your credit reports, you are also entitled to a
free copy of your report for the following reasons:
if you are turned down for credit, insurance, or
employment because of information in your cred-
it report; if you are a victim of identity theft; if
you are on public assistance; or if you are unem-
ployed but expect to apply for employment within
60 days. To request a free credit report under any
of these circumstances, contact the credit report-
ing companies directly:
Equifax, 866-349-5191, www.equifax.com
Experian, 888-397-3742, www.experian.com
TransUnion, 800-916-8800, www.transunion.com
What’s in a Credit Report?
Your credit report contains information about how you
have handled credit, such as loans or credit card ac-
counts, as well any bankruptcies, tax liens, or monetary
judgments issued against you. It is compiled by a cred-
it reporting company, which gets the information
from creditors and from public records. The com-
panies then sell the report to credit grantors, em-
Issue #121
January 2019
ployers, landlords, and others who want to check out an
individual’s credit history.
Common Mistakes in Credit Reports Include:
• Loans and credit accounts you’ve never opened
• Misspelled name, wrong Social Security num-
ber, wrong address, or phone number
• Accounts wrongly listed as late, incorrect bal-
ances, incorrect credit limits, closed accounts
listed as open, incorrect delinquency dates, or
accounts listed more than once
Dispute Mistakes You Find
Your credit report will include information about how
to dispute a mistake. If your dispute is about a credit ac-
count, you should send a dispute letter to both the credit
reporting company and creditor that was the source of
the information.
Your dispute should clearly explain what you think is
wrong and why. State the facts, explain why you are dis-
puting the information, and request that it be corrected.
In your dispute letter to the creditor, you may want to en-
close a copy of the relevant portion of your credit report.
Highlight the items in question. Also include copies of
documents that support your position. Never send your
original documents. Keep copies of your dispute letters
and enclosures.
The credit reporting company and the creditor should
investigate the dispute or fix any mistake. If the dis-
puted information is wrong or cannot be verified,
the creditor must delete or change it and provide a correc-
tion to the credit reporting companies that received the
disputed information. If an investigation doesn’t resolve
your dispute filed with a consumer report company, you
can ask that a statement of the dispute be included in your
credit file and in future credit reports.
Following a dispute, Marylanders can ask the credit re-
porting company to disclose the name, address and tele-
phone number of each person contacted during the re-
investigation. That way, you don’t have to spend hours
tracking down who at “the bank” or other large creditor
verified adverse information with the credit reporting
company.
If you are unable to resolve the problem, call the State of
Maryland’s Division of Financial Regulation at 410-230-
6100.
TIP: If you suspect that the error on your report is a result
of identity theft, you will need to file a dispute to correct
it. For information about identity theft and steps to take if
you have been victimized, the Consumer Financial Pro-
tection Bureau provides information at the following link:
www.consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb/31/what-do-i-do-if-
i-think-i-have-been-a-victim-of-identity-theft.html. You
can also visit the Federal Trade Commission’s Fighting
Back Against Identity Theft website, www.identitytheft.
gov/.
What About Your Credit Score?
Many lenders will base their lending decisions on your
credit score without looking at your underlying credit re-
port. Your credit score is calculated using a formula based
on the information in your credit report. Different credit
rating agencies and creditors use different criteria based
upon what information they consider most important.
Unlike credit reports, you are not entitled to obtain your
credit score for free. However, if you order the free copies
of your credit reports, make sure any incorrect informa-
tion is corrected or removed, and make efforts to address
problems such as late payments. Since your credit score is
based on the information in your credit report, removing
incorrect negative information may improve your credit
score.
The major credit reporting companies (Equifax, Experi-
an, and TransUnion) are allowed to charge a “reasonable
fee” for you to obtain your credit score from them. If you
are interested in obtaining your credit score, you should
contact those companies directly.
Issue #121
January 2019
Consider Placing a Security “Freeze” On Your Cred-
it Report
If you are not planning to seek new credit in the near
future, you may want to consider placing a “freeze” on
your credit report as a protection against identity thieves
opening credit in your name. Contact Equifax, Experian,
and TransUnion and ask that they put a freeze on your
credit reports. A freeze prevents prospective creditors
from accessing your credit file unless you lift the freeze
for that creditor or for a specified period of time. Typi-
cally, creditors won’t offer you credit if they can’t access
your credit reporting file, so a freeze prevents you or
others from opening accounts in your name. You should
also consider doing this for your children as well to pre-
vent them from becoming the victims of identity theft,
especially since such identify theft may not be discov-
ered for years.
Maryland consumers may place a freeze on their credit
reports from all three credit reporting agencies, free of
charge. Credit freezes may also be lifted, known as a
“thaw,” free of charge. For further information on how to
freeze your credit report, see our identity theft website.
You Don’t Need to Pay for Credit Monitoring
Many companies that promise free credit reports want
to sign you up for credit monitoring services or other
products. Some companies will sign you up for a credit
monitoring service when you order a “free” credit report
if you do not follow the instructions provided above.
Make sure to read any fine print before submitting a re-
quest, ESPECIALLY if the request requires your credit
card number, because the companies charge a fee for the
monitoring service. You can take these free or lower cost
steps to protect yourself.
• Monitor your credit yourself by staggering when
you order your free credit reports. For example,
you could visit www.annualcreditreport.com in
January to get your Experian report, in March to
check your Equifax report, and again in August
to get your TransUnion report. You could order
your free credit reports under Maryland law by
contacting the credit reporting companies direct-
ly in other months. By rotating your requests this
way, you can keep a periodic eye on your credit
records for free.
• Put the freeze on identity thieves: You do not
need to pay a credit monitoring service to stop
thieves from opening accounts with your in-
formation. Contact Equifax, Experian, and
TransUnion and ask that they put a freeze
on your credit reports.
• Request a fraud alert: If you believe that you have
been or are about to become the victim of iden-
tity theft or fraud, you can place a fraud alert on
your credit report. A fraud alert requires lenders to
take steps to verify your identity before opening a
new account in your name, or issuing an addition-
al credit card, or increasing the credit limit on an
existing account. You can also provide a telephone
number so lenders can call you to verify your
identity. (A fraud alert does not prevent a lender
from opening credit in your name.)
• Service members: If you are a member of the mili-
tary on active duty, you may place an “active-duty
alert” on your credit report to reduce the risk of
identity theft while you are deployed. This alert
lets a business know that you are probably out of
the country, so the business is required to take rea-
sonable steps to verify your identity before issu-
ing credit in your name. More information about
active-duty alerts can be found on Ask CFPB at
www.consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb/.
If you have complaints or concerns about a credit mon-
itoring service, contact the Federal Trade Commission,
877-FTC-HELP.
Consumer Protection Division
200 St. Paul Place, 16th Fl., Baltimore, MD 21202
• General Consumer Complaints: 410-528-8662
Toll-free: 1-888-743-0023 TDD: 410-576-6372
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday
www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/Pages/CPD/
• Health Consumer Complaints: 410-528-1840
Toll-free: 1-877-261-8807 TDD: 410-576-6372
9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday
www.marylandcares.org
• For information on branch oces in Largo, Salisbury,
Hagerstown, and a full list of oces across Maryland, visit:
www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/Pages/contactus.aspx
How to contact us
The Consumer’s Edge is produced by the Maryland Attorney
General’s Office. Reproductions are encouraged.
Maryland
Attorney General
Anthony G. Brown
www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov
