Credit bureaus use a plethora of sources to gather individuals' credit information. There is nothing that makes this process illegal. Your creditors willingly submit all kinds of personal information about you, including how much you spend with them and how you pay your bills.

The content of your credit file constitutes your credit report, and it is estimated that 70 percent of all credit reports contain factual errors. There are three major credit bureaus that gather information on individuals (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion). And another, Innovus, mostly gathers information on businesses.

Until a few years ago, these credit bureaus were allowed to charge fees for individuals to see their own credit files. These credit bureaus now are required by law to furnish each individual with one free report per year. Legislation required the bureaus to set up a method by which consumers easily could access their free reports.

The bureaus complied with making reports accessible by creating AnnualCreditReport.com. Think of it as a doorway through which you must pass if you wish to get your free reports. Once through, consumers are taken to their selected bureau's Web site. If you do not enter through AnnualCreditReport.com, you will end up paying for your free report.

Being transported to any of the bureaus' Web sites is going to present a bit of a minefield experience. If you are not diligent in turning down all the offers to get something more than your one free credit report, you could find yourself at checkout giving your credit card number. Keep saying "no" to all offers until you get what you came for. You don't want credit monitoring, and you don't want your credit score. There is always a charge for your credit score. Only your credit report is free once annually.

Don't get nervous when you are required to give personal information, including your address and Social Security number, in the report-requesting process. They have this information already. Without it, they have no idea which report to deliver out of the hundreds of millions they have on file. They need this to match you to your file. They also may ask a few questions to make sure you are not a thief looking to break into a credit file in order to commit fraud.

So how can you get your free credit report once every four months and not just once a year? Remember there are three big credit bureaus. Don't get all three at the same time. Stagger each request by four months.

AnnualCreditReport.com is the only official Web site to help consumers obtain their free credit reports. You also can call 1-877-322-8228 or write to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

Mary Hunt is the founder of DebtProofLiving.com and author of 17 books, including "Debt-Proof Living." You can e-mail her at mary@everydaycheapskate.com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, CA 90723. To find out more about Mary Hunt and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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