Federal law entitles you to one free copy of your credit report by each of the three national credit reporting companies every 12 months.

You can order from the website endorsed by the Federal Trade Commission at www.annualcreditreport.com or call (877) 322-8228 to receive a free report from Equifax, Transunion or Experian.

You can request one or all three during the 12-month period. Check for reporting errors that could negatively affect your score. Common errors include closed accounts showing as open, incorrect balances or limits, and accounts opened by someone else due to identity fraud.

Credit information obtained in the free reports will not include a credit score. Credit scoring is a complex and often confusing system creditors use to help determine whether to give you credit.

Information about you and your credit experiences including payment history, total account balances, length of credit history, types of credit used and new accounts impact your score, along with derogatory actions like collection accounts or bankruptcies.

Using a statistical program, creditors compare this information to the loan repayment history of consumers with similar profiles and the system awards points for each factor that helps predict who is most likely to repay a debt.

The total number of points- your credit score- helps predict how creditworthy you are and how likely it is that you will repay a loan and make payments when due.

Each of the nationwide credit reporting agencies have their own proprietary scoring models to predict credit performance. These models were originally developed for useby lenders to predict performance on credit obligations, but are now primarily sold as educational scores to consumers.

Vantage Scores sold by the credit reporting companies may or may not be similar to the FICO scores now primarily used by mortgage lenders.

What can you do to improve your credit score? Make payments on time and pay off credit card balances every month. Pay down debt to no more than 30% of your credit limit. Diversify the types of credit you obtain to show you can handle a variety of financial responsibilities.

Adriana Donofrio deasypennerpodley Glendora (626) 926-9700 adonofrio@dppre.com