Check Your Credit At No Cost      

Take advantage of a chance to obtain a free copy of your credit report.

          A federal law is in effect that allows individuals to get free copies of their credit reports, once a year, from each of the three major credit-reporting agencies. The rule, part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act, was rolled out across the U.S. last year, and culminates with the addition of the Eastern states, Puerto Rico and all U.S. territories last September. At that point, all consumers will have access to the reports from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

          But be sure to use the one official Web site for requesting free reports- AnnualCreditReport.com -or you can call 877-322-8228. (Don’t contact the individual credit agencies). The official site can also be accessed through the Federal Trade Commission’s Web site at  ftc.gov/freereports, which has a link to the correct Web site.

          Also, check to make sure you’re at the correct Web site: Impostors are already popping up on the Web. Pop-up ads or emails you receive that claim to be the official Web site are likely scams. And keep in mind that the credit companies themselves might try to sell you other services that you might not necessarily need.

          The free credit report contains payment histories, loan  balances, whether you have been sued, arrested, of filed for bankruptcy, as well as other pertinent personal and financial information. But it doesn’t include you credit score.

          Your credit score can be ordered through the site for an additional fee ranging from $4 to $8. Your credit score is an actual numeric measure of your creditworthiness used by lenders and others.

Now see how it affects your payments at http://www.myfico.com/

Minneapolis ranks among the top with a 705 average http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Yourcreditrating/P80782.asp

Hope this information helps