Your credit report contains information about you, including what accounts you have and your bill paying history. An amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires each of the major nationwide consumer reporting companies to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months.

To order your free annual report from one or all the national consumer reporting companies, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call toll-free 877.322.8228. Do not contact the three nationwide consumer reporting companies individually.

Under federal law, you're also entitled to a free report if a company takes adverse action against you, such as denying your application for credit, insurance or employment, and you request your report within 60 days of receiving notice of the action. The notice will give you the name, address and phone number of the consumer reporting company that supplied the information about you. You're also entitled to one free report a year if you're unemployed and plan to look for a job within 60 days; you're on welfare; or your report is inaccurate because of fraud. Otherwise, a consumer reporting company may charge you up to $9.50 for any other copies of your report.

To buy a copy of your report, contact:

• Equifax: 800.685.1111; www.equifax.com
• Experian: 888.EXPERIAN (888.397.3742); www.experian.com
• TransUnion: 800.916.8800; www.transunion.com