Every consumer should be maintaining their credit profiles to ensure the highest scores possible. To do so, you must first order your credit reports from the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) entitles you to a copy of your credit Report for free, provided you meet the following criteria:

? You have been denied credit because of information in your credit report within the last 60 days.

? You are currently unemployed and are seeking employment.

? You receive public assistance.

? You believe that your credit file contains errors due to fraud or identity theft.

Additionally, you also may be able to get your credit report and credit score from other business or companies. For example, if you live in California and are shopping for a home loan, the lender must provide you with your credit score by law. Several other states require that credit scores be disclosed to consumers.

It?s possible to receive a free copy of your credit reports annually if you live in Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont and Maryland. Recently Congress passed a law which affords each of us the right to a free credit report annually. Below is a listing of the start dates for this particular program:

Consumers in the Western states ? Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming ? can order their free reports beginning December 1, 2004.

Consumers in the Midwestern states ? Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin ? can order their free reports beginning March 1, 2005.

Consumers in the Southern states ? Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas ? can order their free reports beginning June 1, 2005.

Consumers in the Eastern states ? Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia ? the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and all U.S. territories can order their free reports beginning September 1, 2005.

To take advantage of the free annual credit report, please visit: www.annualcreditreport.com.

Why is it important to "maintain our credit profile"? You have to have good credit, or at least decent credit, for a lender to consider you as a worthy credit risk. With our credit score being used in everything from insurance to interest rates on loans, we need to ensure that we manage our credit properly.

There is also the an epedimic going on called Identity Theft. The FBI released a study in May 2005 which stated that Identity Theft has caused over $52.6 billion dollars in total losses for 2004. With over 4.6% of the population being effected by Identity Theft, you can never be too careful. Identity Theft is simply an individual assuming another identity, and often times leads to other financial crimes such as credit card fraud, mortgage fraud, and check fraud.

By monitoring our credit reports frequently and utilizing our credit responsibily, we can take control of our financial futures to ensure that our profiles are accurate.