<p>I just stumbled across this in my stack of cryptic notes by the computer.</p>
<p>All the places you see on TV that offer “free credit reports” and the ones you easily find online will require that you sign up for their “service” of getting monthly updates, etc for your credit report. Getting to cancel the service is a pain.</p>
<p>There’s a site that really does offer credit reports—you can get them annually. You get your Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax reports.The site is</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.annualcreditreport.com%5B/url%5D”>www.annualcreditreport.com</a></p>
<p>If you want to get your FICO (or other versions of it), you have to pay a one-time charge of $7.95.</p>
<p>They’ll ask you a lot of security questions. In the past, I had problems because of multiple mortage-refinances, when they asked what the payment was for a previous mortgage, or to verify the name of a mortgage company (that had changed multiple times over the years), it can be a bit tricky to prove that you are really “you”.</p>
<p>Ok…</p>
<p>So I go on that site and get my credit reports…</p>
<p>I’m impressed, but I found out that the credit agencies for some reason still use my parent’s address as my current address!</p>
<p>This has caused me trouble, as the latest charge card I took out changed my address to my parent’s without notifying me and I never received the statement (and as I haven’t gotten mail sent there in over 3 years, they threw it away without opening). Now, I resolved this problem with the charge card company, but need to fix this on my credit report.</p>
<p>Do I file a dispute of information? Do I call someone to have it simply changed? Any ideas as to why they are still using my parent’s address though I haven’t used it as a permanent address since 2003?</p>
<p>Thanks! :D</p>
<p>Yes, go through the “dispute” process and get the info corrected. You should do this with all 3 credit reporting agencies–get the credit card problem fixed, and change your address. I imagine they’ll probably need some proof of address from you (drivers license?), but you can start with a letter and see what they ask you for.</p>
<p>When we were young(er) 
and foolish, we did some dumb things as far as our credit…forgot a payment here, just put off mailing a payment there…got into some dumb problems with paying one credit card minimum payment with balance transfer checks…the usual suspects. I can never emphasize enough how important it is to stay on time with payments, and to take advantage of the annual credit reports so you see what’s out there. Better to do it BEFORE you try to get a mortgage (whether or not you already own a house). H and I both worked “in the business”–he much longer, progressing to an exec level, so we are very aware of what “they” look at. I’m not of the opinion that banks should be “blamed” for consumers’ credit woes.</p>
<p>ophhiolite-When you’re viewing your credit report at one of those sites, they have an option to dispute information on the same screen. It’ll give you a box so you can just type in that your credit report has the wrong address, etc. They will contact you if they need further information, and you can check back with the site periodically to make sure it gets fixed. (the same thing happened to me)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>astrophysicsmom:</p>
<p>I know all about foolish mistakes and have done all in my power to avoid them. I fortunately have A+ credit, but my husband isn’t as lucky…</p>
<p>Ophiolite–those bad (aka stupid) days are long behind us. It sure takes a long time for those late payments to age off the credit reports…and the sad part was that usually they were because I just forgot to pay them on time. I did say STUPID, didn’t I? I just love grinding up all the balance transfer options in the shredder now, not having any balances to transfer. I do, however, plan to earn a few trips to some luxurious spa making the initial college tuition payments using my airline mileage cards. Then I can transfer the $$ from those dusty college savings accounts to pay the monthly bill.</p>