Why are there 3 credit bureaus....?

Question

and how can i check my credit report at each bureau? How often should i check my credit report, and how often can i check it?

btw, i am a US citizen

Answer 1

There are three credit bureaus because that is all the market will support right now.  There was a fourth entrant to the market several years ago, but they couldn't compete.

You can check a copy of your credit report at any of the three credit bureaus by going to www.annualcreditreport.com.  This is the official site for getting your free annual credit report as required by the FACT Act.

You can check it for free once each 12 months for each credit bureau.  If you stagger credit bureaus, you can check your credit report each four months for free.  Pick one such as Equifax, then four months later, pick your credit report from Experian, and then four months later pick your credit report from TransUnion.

You can check it more often by paying for your credit report or if you are a victim of identity theft.  In the latter case, you can check it for free.   Also, if you have been compromised by a company that was careless with your personal data, they will usually pay for you to have free credit monitoring.

If you have not been compromised, then checking your credit report once each four months is probably enough.  The three credit bureaus pretty much report the same information on you.

Answer 2

Go to:

https://www.annualcreditreport.transunio...

https://www.econsumer.equafax.com

https://www.experiandirect.com

You can get your credit report free one time a year.  If you have any problems with what the report says, the sites tell you what to do.

Answer 3

There is no particular reason that three is currently the number of major national ones.  There used to be many small local ones.  I am not sure if those still exist.

You can check any, or all, of the credit reports from the three major bureaus at http://www.annualcreditreport.com for free once per year per report.  (Elsewhere, you can check as often as you want if you are willing to pay.)  It is recommended that you check each once per year and check one report (from a different bureau) every 4 months (for example, one bureau every January, one every May, and one every September), so that you can see one reasonably often without spending any money.