Now that you have free access to your credit report, what do you do with it?

One free credit report, each year, from each of the three credit reporting agencies—Equifax, Experian and TransUnion—is among the provisions of the new Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), enacted Dec. 4, 2003 to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

Free credit reports are available online at AnnualCreditReport.com, by phone at 877.322.8228 or by writing Annual Credit Report Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, Ga. 30348-5281.

Consumer advocates and credit and real estate experts all say now that more consumers are likely to take a peek, they should know how to analyze the report.

Your credit report is a sort of fiscal fitness report on your credit habits. It names your credit accounts and keeps a running tab on balances, credit limits, available credit, open-or-closed status and payments, all to reveal how well or how poorly you pay each account.

The report also documents credit requests and notices of liens, judgments and other "derogatory" remarks, remarks from the consumer and other information.

"An unpaid parking ticket where the city filed a lien for a judgment, tax liens from old medical bills, collections accounts—they all impact your credit standing. Every time a collection account is resold to another collection agency, that is reported," said F. Michael Johnson, author of Borrow Your Way to Wealth (Acacia Publishing, $11.95).

Your credit report also lists your name, Social Security number, birth date, and recent places of employment and residence, among other information.

The frequency with which you should check your report depends on how credit active you are and what credit purchases you plan to make. For example, you should know what's on all three of your credit reports long enough before you apply for a mortgage to correct errors, remove outdated material and otherwise render your report in the best light.

"Credit reports should be checked at least once a year, and any discrepancies should be fixed immediately. It is often too late to fix once the loan process is initiated, and the cost in higher interest rates and points can be quite large," said Stefan Walker a real estate agent with Alain Pinel in Los Gatos.

Real estate investors and others who frequently use credit check more often.

"I check mine twice a year," said Christine Karpinski, a real estate investor and author of How To Rent Vacation Properties By Owner (Kinney Pollack Press, $26).

Karpinski put an offer on a home in 2002, but never went through with the deal, yet the loan remains on her credit report.

"It shows me as a more transient person and lowers my credit score," said Karpinski.

Once you have your credit report, make sure the information is yours—83 percent of all credit reports have some anomaly, some error, large or small, says Johnson, who is also a real estate investor.

Look for outdated information. Liens, judgments, slow pays, and other bad marks can remain for only seven years, bankruptcies for 10.

Look for accounts you didn't open, late payments you don't remember, redundant information, missing accounts and anything that appears amiss, advises Nancy Castleman with the Good Advice Press, a consumer self-help company offering living-for-less financial advice.

Castleman says when you are concerned about the contents use the form that comes with the credit report or write a letter explaining your dispute.

"Include copies of any documentation that backs up your version of the story. Your letter should be clear, to the point and understandable. Consider asking a friend or relative to review your letter before you send it," Castleman advised.

The bureaus have 30 days to address your concerns, and they do not have to remove the item until they've found it to be erroneous.

Speed things up by taking your complaint directly to the offending creditor or other party—something you may have to do if the creditor disputes your story.

"Once you've resolved the dispute, ask the lender to send a correction to the credit bureau," said Castleman.

Send a written request to creditors to close any zero-balance "open" or "active," but unused accounts. Request that once the account is closed the creditor notifies the credit bureaus. When you receive a confirmation that the account is closed, send a copy to each credit bureau.

When any action is necessary on one report, it's likely necessary for the other two.

Once you've corrected errors or updated information, request a new copy of your credit reports to make sure the correction has been posted.

Keep copies of all documents related to your credit reports.

"Keep it in a file forever," says Karpinski.

Get the full scoop on the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act online at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/credit/index.html.

Real estate writer Broderick Perkins, executive editor of San Jose-based DeadlineNews.Com, writes regularly for this newspaper.