This is by way of the Washington Post, which has a good story about how today, 1 September, 2005, is the first day that residents of the East Coast can finally get a free credit report from the major credit reporting agencies through Annual Credit Report.com. Here’s their story:

Today, residents of the Washington area and the rest of the East Coast can finally order one free copy a year of their credit report from each of the three national credit bureaus.

The annual free credit reports were mandated by Congress two years ago to reduce the incidence of identity theft by encouraging consumers to regularly check their credit histories for suspicious activity, such as a new credit card account that was never requested.

Editorial note: two years to implement a basic database query system? Sheesh.

But consumers should be prepared: Getting the reports may not be easy. The Federal Trade Commission has received nearly 2,100 complaints from consumers about the program since it was launched on the West Coast last year. Nearly 80 percent, or 1,641 consumers who complained, said they were unable to order the free reports, either online or over the telephone. Another 435 said they ordered the reports but never received them. Many of these latter requests were made…