Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images
Before I proceed any further, I need to clarify that this series on how I file my important paperwork is not meant to suggest that I am a financial adviser or authority.
I will share what I have learned along the way from researching these different topics, but I am not suggesting that your file should be a duplicate of my file. This organizational system is just a suggestion for filing away your important papers to save time when needing to locate a document.
With that said, I will begin with the documents in Box 1. The first pocket houses our credit reports. These reports are obtained from the three credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
You DO NOT have to pay for your credit reports. I choose to request my reports by phone (1-877-322-8228). I like to have the paper version sent to me. This is my preference. If you prefer to request your reports online, the website is www.AnnualCreditReport.com. Here is an excerpt from their website:
You may request your free credit report online, request your report by phone or request your report through the mail. Free credit reports requested online are viewable immediately upon authentication of identity. Free credit reports requested by phone or mail will be processed within 15 days of receiving your request.
This central site allows you to request a free credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
AnnualCreditReport.com is the official site to help consumers to obtain their free credit report.
We guard your privacy. Please be aware of how you arrived at this site. To ensure that you are visiting the legitimate site, type https://www.annualcreditreport.com directly into the address bar on your browser. You will never receive an email directly from the Annual Credit Report Request Service. For further information please read the Security Policy.
For companies that advertise a free credit report with their service like freecreditreport.com, you are paying for the monitoring service. I do not use a monitoring service since I check our credit reports every four months. I will share next week the schedule I follow when requesting our reports. I do not request them all at the same time because I want to keep an eye on our reports all year. Feel free to ask questions. I will do my best to share my experience or point you in the direction where I would research an answer to your question.