Annual Credit Report Checks Help Prevent Identity Theft

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 30, 2004 -- Consumers in the United States� Western States can begin getting a copy of their free credit report today from the three major credit bureaus. The free annual credit checkups were mandated by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, signed into law last December by President Bush. The law includes a number of provisions designed to fend off identity theft, which hits millions of U.S. consumers each year. SPENDonLIFE.com, (http://www.spendonlife.com), a consumer savings website that provides credit reports, encourages all consumers to take advantage of the new law.

�Credit reports contain a wealth of information. They are a person�s financial report card and unfortunately, credit reports often contain mistakes,� says SPENDonLIFE.com President Mark Henry. �Consumers need to know exactly what their credit report says about them.�

Only residents in the Western part of the United States will be able to access the reports on Dec. 1. The region includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

The Midwest gets added to the system in March, the South in June. Residents in Eastern states will have to wait the longest, until September.

The staged rollout was designed to help the credit bureaus deal with what may be a great amount of traffic when the system launches.

�Conducting an annual credit report check can help consumers avoid many headaches,� added Henry.

SPENDonLIFE.com offers a free service to help consumers lower their monthly bills. Consumers can save on loans, insurance, long distance, debt management, credit reports and more. The company has been a leader in helping consumers save money since 2001.