How to Get a Copy of Someone's Credit Report

To get a copy of someone's credit report, you must have a legitimate business reason and the person's permission. Legitimate business reasons include lending money, issuing insurance and conducting a credit check for a potential employee or tenant. According to MSN Money, more than one in three employers check the employee's credit report before hiring.

Instructions

1

Request the permission of the person whose credit report you want to access. You should get this permission in writing for future reference because it is illegal to access someone's credit report without permission.

2

Request the required identifying information from the person. This information includes their full name, including their maiden name, if applicable, last two places she has lived, date of birth and Social Security number.

3

Purchase a credit report from at least one of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. When you order the report, specify if you are ordering it as part of a background check because the report you receive will not have the person's date of birth or credit score.

4

Tell the person if any of the information in the credit report adversely affected your decision on their application. For example, if you decided not to rent your apartment to a person who had several delinquencies on her credit report, you would have to specify this information.