Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Last Sunday’s post covered the “how” I receive our free credit reports. Today, I will share “when” I request the reports.

I use the telephone option to request our reports. During that call, I am given the option to order one, two, or all three of my credit reports. I choose to only request one report for my husband and a different report for myself. (If you are requesting for yourself, then just follow the schedule for Paul.)

Every four months, I repeat the requests with different reports. At the end of the year, I will have requested a report from each of the 3 credit bureaus for Paul and myself for a total of 6 reports: 2 Experian, 2 Equifax, and 2 TransUnion. My schedule is as follows:

FEBRUARY

• Paul – Experian
• Tracy – TransUnion

JUNE

• Paul – Equifax
• Tracy – Experian

OCTOBER

• Paul – TransUnion
• Tracy – Equifax

On my calendar I have noted the date that I need to request our credit reports. Since you can request one report per year, I make sure that the date I choose to request is PAST the date the current report was prepared.

If you were to follow my schedule, then you would have a March, July, and November schedule. Before you request the first one, I would check to see if you have any credit reports. If you don’t find any, then I would just start with this schedule. If you find one or more, then look at the date prepared. If it is more than a year old, then I would start over with this schedule. But if you find that you did request your reports last year, then start after the date those reports were prepared. You don’t want to be charged for your reports when you can get them for free!

Next week, I will share how I get our credit scores for free!