You can get the best terms for your car loan. So stand up for your rights! The Federal Government doesn’t often cover itself in glory. It usually caves into the interests of Big Business. But, with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Capitol Hill actually did something useful for the consumer. There are three national credit data collection agencies - Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The FCRA says they have to give you one free copy of your credit report every twelve months. So what’s in a credit report? Well, it’s basic information on where you live, how well you look after your debts, and whether you’ve been arrested or sued, or filed for bankruptcy.

As a package, it’s on sale to banks, finance companies, employers, landlords, etc. To get a copy of your report, don’t approach the companies directly. Use annualcreditreport.com. It may be more useful to get one report from each of the three companies every four months. That way, you get free updates as the year goes by. If you find anything wrong, the FCRA gives you the right to have it corrected. Don’t forget. Any score less than 550 means you’re not going to get the best loan offers. Anything you can do to improve your score will save you dollars on your car loan.