Legitimate place to get free credit reports

that's ok... found it myself..

the only legitimate place to get the free credit report information is:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

all the others, like those that advertise on TV or want to give you a free gift for signing up, are primarily attempts to collect personal information; most really will get you a copy of a credit report, and their purpose in doing so is to correlate what you tell them with the credit information to create new information they can sell to marketeers.

many thanks, Virginia-Legal-Defense
... that's the one i found. was suspect of the others as you say. is it true that collection agencies can get your personal info (such as address) from credit reports?

Yes. As well as lots of other sources; there are companies that go through public records at courthouses and county assessors' offices, for example, and record everything they find on everyone. They sort it out later and correlate the name, date of birth, address, etc. information with the stuff already available, and their databases are available to everyone who's willing to pay for them. Most are now available on the internet to anyone who's got a credit card. I use some of that kind of stuff, myself, to figure out whom to name as a defendant in a lawsuit sometimes, because people use fake names, put down false addresses, etc.

thanks for the extra info... as others, i'm sure, i appreciate your "professional" info... so in essence, if someone wants to find out what is on their credit report in relation to a collection call, their request for a credit report could lead to the collection agency getting their address if they don't already have it?? any suggestions?

Yes, that's true.

Suggestions: Unfortunately, not disclosing who you are and where you can be located can result in your having been sued without your even knowing about it, and a judgment entered against you by default. Some states place a high premium on actual notice (Maryland, for example), but even those have a procedure for getting service on someone who's made himself scarce by service on a state official with a mailing to the "last known address" of the defendant.

I had one client who got a charter for his own limited-liability company, basically using his own name, like, "Henry Huggins, LLC", and then registering "H.Huggins" as a fictitious name for the LLC, and only used "H.Huggins" for acts of the business. It looked like personal stuff to anyone who wanted a signature, but gave him the ability to say, "Nope, that's not me, that's Henry Huggins, LLC - I never use 'H.Huggins' for my own personal signature, I always use 'Henry Lee Huggins' to mean me, personally. Sue the LLC if you want to." Of course, the LLC had no assets. A very persistent and smart lawyer could get around that kind of a dodge, but the average business owner just kind of stands there batting his eyes like a toad in a hailstorm.

Some people pay any extra couple of bucks a month for an 800 number, so they can (1) control who gets their real number and (2) trash the 800 number when they get too much crap that way.

You can also rent a P.O. Box at the local post office: for individual consumers, the USPS can't give out the information on the box holder without a subpoena.

For obvious reasons, lots of people won't do business with you if you have checks printed up with an 800 number and a P.O. box.

Another thing is if you use a business entity to hide out in, you lose your rights as a consumer.

I think the best thing is to be clear about who you are and where you are, but at the same time, don't put up with any crap from collection agencies and other vultures - use caller id and an answering machine to screen the calls; use call trace (extra cost option from the phone company) to document the unwanted calls; keep a log of everything that happens with them; send written demands for verification to debt collectors, protests of improper payments to banks, and notices of billing errors to credit card companies promptly. And sue anyone who doesn't behave himself. Most consumer protection laws provide for reimbursement of attorneys' fees so it shouldn't be all that hard to find a lawyer who can help.