Instructions for assignment 3

The goal of this assignment is to obtain a copy of your credit report, examine the information in the report for errors. This assignment requires you to navigate through the websites, and the steps are detailed below. Be ready to print the web pages you accessed. So be sure you are connected to a printer.


STEP 1

To obtain a free copy of your credit report, go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com

NOTE 1: It is important that you use the above link to get to the correct site.
You will be providing sensitive information (e.g. your Social Security Number and date of birth) in the process of getting a credit report.

There are many other sites that take advantage of this fact, and tries to pass off as the above site. A few of such impostor sites are motivated by CRIMINAL intentions. So, be careful.

NOTE 2: Where and when you can, you should access the site with your own personal computer (as opposed to a public computer) using a wired connection or an encrypted wireless connection.


On the first page, select the appropriate state. If you grew up in California, then select California. If you did not, then choose the state in which you most often use credit.

Example 1: If you lived most of your life in Seattle, Washington, but you have applied for most of your credit cards in California using a California address, you should select California as the state.

Example 2: If your parents live in Seattle, Washington, and they allowed you to use their credit card, then you should select Washington as the state.


After you have selected the state, click the button “Request Report”.



STEP 2

The next page should read “PLEASE PROVIDE ALL OF THE PERSONAL INFORMATION REQUIRED BELOW”.

Enter your personal information.

NOTE: Check the box to indicate that you want no more than the last four digits of your Social Security Number to appear when you view or print your credit report.



STEP 3

This page asks you to select one or more of the consumer credit reporting agencies.

For this assignment, choose Experian only.

Click Next to continue.



STEP 4

This page says “Click NEXT to continue. You will be transferred to the Experian site.”
It tells you how to return to the AnnualCreditReport.com site.

Click NEXT to go to the Experian site.



STEP 5

This page asks you for the last four digits of your SSN. Enter the digits and click Submit
The next page asks if you want to buy a credit monitoring service. There is no need to do so. Scroll down and click the grey button “Annual Credit Report”.
The next page is an order summary. Click on the link “Terms & Conditions”. Read it. Then check the box, and click the red button “Submit”.


STEP 6

You may be asked to answer certain questions about your credit history. So, give the right answers and click Submit.

STEP 7

At this point, you are getting your credit report. This page will show a summary of your report. Print out this page.

Next, look at the right side of the page, and click on the link “Print your report”. This will open a new page with your full printable report. Print out this full report.

Congratulations! You have obtained your credit report from one of the credit reporting agencies.



STEP 8

Study your report. Become familiar with it.

Pay attention to errors in the information.
In particular, if the report states that you have potentially negative credit information, make sure that the information is indeed correct.



STEP 9

For the assignment, write a brief report answering these questions:

1. Are there any errors in your report?
If there are, what type of errors are they? (e.g., wrong spelling of your name, wrong address, credit cards you do not own, etc.)

2. From studying your credit report, what did you learn that was surprising?
Write a paragraph or two or more describing what you learnt.


Be ready to talk about these and other issues in the laboratory session.