A credit report is your personal financial summary that is seen by banks, credit unions, and mortgage brokers when you apply for a loan.

Protecting the information on this report and ensuring its accuracy is one of the big concerns consumers have today.

A new federal law, the Fair and Accurate Transaction Act (or FACT), helps consumers understand their credit rights, understand their

credit reports, and fights identity theft.

It’s a good idea to check your credit report periodically to check for inaccuracies, or potential fraud. Otherwise, you may not be aware

of errors until you apply for credit and receive a less than optimum rate or are turned down altogether.

Written requests can be sent to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P. O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

(To reach the site, type "www.annualcreditreport.com" directly into your browser's url line.)

To help the agencies handle the volume of request expected, the Federal Trade Commission established a roll-out plan for free reports

by region. Beginning December 1, 2004, consumers living in western states can request a free report; The remaining U.S. states will be

deployed as follows:

•     Illinois and other Mid-Western states, March 1, 2005;

•     Southern states – June 1, 2005;

•     Eastern states and other U.S. territories completing the rollout on 9/1/05.

Once you receive your report, check account information and payment history. If you note any errors, contact the creditor directly.

Go through your open lines of credit and close any that you are not likely to use.

If you can’t wait, or would like to review your report more often, www.truecredit.com from TransUnion offers a monitoring package with quarterly reports and weekly email updates for a nominal fee.