Free Credit Reports Online
"I've heard some people say that I can get a free credit report online, but the websites I looked at want to charge me a fee. Is it true that I can get a free credit report once a year?"
What's the deal on free credit reports?
Yes, Virginia, there is a free credit report clause. Back in December 2003, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) was signed into law, which gives every U.S. consumer the right to receive a copy of their credit report free of charge once a year. The free credit report access was rolled out from the west coast to the east coast, and as of September 1, 2005 every United States citizen has been able to obtain a free credit report once every 12 months.
What is a credit report?
A credit report provides you with all of the information in your credit file maintained by consumer reporting companies that could be provided by them in a consumer report about you to a third party, such as a lender. This information includes mortgage, credit card and loan balances, along with your payment history. A credit report also includes a record of everyone who has received a consumer report about you within a certain period of time.
You can request your free credit report through the website shown below, by phone or by mail. If you request your annual credit report by phone or mail, it will be mailed within 15 days. However, you can receive a report immediately online. Click on this link to find information on how to request a free annual credit report online, by phone or mail.And here's a practical tip that was pointed out by several readers: Consumers are actually entitled to get one free report a year -- from each of the 3 credit bureaus. So you can can actually get three reports per year. If you request your credit report from a different credit bureau every 4 months, you can monitor them more closely, rather than just once a year.
Singing, Dancing and Acting
AnnualCreditReport.com was created by the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, in accordance with the FACT Act, to provide consumers with the ability to get a free credit report once every 12 months. It's the ONLY service authorized by the credit bureaus for this purpose.
So don't confuse this with other "free credit report" offers that are advertised on radio, TV or online. I'm not saying those companies are pulling a scam, but they DO want to sell you additional services, such as credit monitoring, or identity theft protection. They won't tell you that you can get those credit reports absolutely free, with no strings attached.
And if you're not careful about reading the fine print, you can learn later that you're on the hook for monthly charges you didn't expect. See this NY Times article on The High Cost of a 'Free Credit Report' for more on that.
Credit Report vs. Credit Score
Don't confuse your credit report with your credit score. A credit score (sometimes called a FICO score) is simply a number ranging from 375 to 900, which is derived from the many types of information in a credit file. A credit score is used by a lender to help determine whether a person qualifies for a particular credit card, loan, or service.
Most credit scores estimate the risk a company incurs by lending a person money or providing them with a service –– specifically, the likelihood that the person will make payments on time in the next two to three years. Generally, the higher the score, the less risk the person represents.
Your credit score may be negatively affected if:
Only time, and avoiding the things in the list above, will cause your credit score to increase. Although you are entitled to one free credit report each year, you will probably have to pay a modest fee to obtain your credit score. Some banks and credit card companies provide this service for free, so check with your financial institutions before you pay someone else to see your credit score.
Read the Federal Trade Commission report on How Credit Score is Calculated to better understand the factors that go into determining your credit score.
Got something to say on the topic of free credit reports or related issues? Post your comment below...
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Posted by Bob Rankin on May 12, 2009 04:36 PM
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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Free Credit Reports Online (Posted: May 12, 2009 04:36 PM)
Source: http://askbobrankin.com/free_credit_reports_online.html
Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
Most recent comments on "Free Credit Reports Online"
(See all 18 comments for this article.)Posted by:
tom wasil
25 May 2009
I have just visited the free credit report link. I tried twice with two different agencies. They both report that I have already received my report within the last year. This is TOTALLY bogus. I have not requested once since I have been in Florida the last two and a half years. They , then ask if I want to purchase a credit report. I have not contacted the third source as yet. Anyone else get the bogus reply?
EDITOR'S NOTE: Sounds like you went to the wrong site. Check your brower history and make sure it was AnnualCreditReport.com -- there are some look-alikes out there.
Posted by:
Emery
14 Jun 2009
Another thing to keep in mind is this. If you are denied a loan or credit card application for some reason, you are entitled to a credit report. This report is in addition to the one report a year you are allowed free of charge. So, if for some reason this happens to you and you are denied a credit card, request your free credit report through the credit card company that denied your application.
Posted by:
Ken
15 Jun 2009
The Canadian government also states that you are entitled to one free report from each agency.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Good to know. Is there a website for more info?
Posted by:
Mike
18 Jun 2009
I clicked on the link in your page, Bob, and everything went fine. Thank you.
Posted by:
Marjorie Apel
22 Jun 2009
Difficulty getting online free credit report from Equifax. What I don't know is now that I filled out the application with all my information where has that gone? Am I signed up or not? Am I getting it by mail? Or do I start all over again with another company?
EDITOR'S NOTE: You should have gotten some kind of confirmation at the end of the process. If you didn't, I would try again, and make sure you go to the OFFICIAL ===> AnnualCreditReport.com
Posted by:
Jim Williasmon
21 Jul 2009
The listed AnnualCreditReport.com site is decent, and free if one does not wish the credit numbers. At a recent seminar I was told that company specific (Equifax, Experian, etc) credit numbers are ignored/back seated to the FICO score. Go to MyFICO.com to get (pay for) this number.
In the end, consider visiting AnnualCreditReport.com for the free reports and MyFICO.com for your FICO score (fee based). Don't bother paying ACR for them.
Posted by:
Teena
21 Jul 2009
I love www.creditkarma.com and just wanted to share the site w/all of you. It will give you your credit score free, and it will also show you why your score is as it is and what you can do about it. This information is all free. I go to this site often so I can trend and track my credit score as I work hard to try to raise it, I can see the results of my efforts; again, all for free.
You can also call to get your free annual credit report the telephone number is: 1-877-322-8228
Posted by:
StevieF
26 Dec 2009
Thank you for the article. I had forgotten the website. It's a nice site as it is free. And even though you have can have access to your report for 30 days it does not update during that time period, however it is nice that you can check the 3 main credit reporting agencies as some information can differ between each agency.
Posted by:
StevieF
26 Dec 2009
Does anyone know the validity of the above mentioned "creditkarma" website. It would be nice to be able to check my score even if it is once or once in a while without having to have monthly bills adding up but as I am sure they need a decent amount of personal and possibly harmful information I am wondering if this site and it's practices have been checked out?
Posted by:
Chuck Cronan
13 Jan 2010
Actually you can rotate through each credit agency every 4 months. The rule is each agency is free once every 12 months. For example, Jan: Equifax, May: Experian, Sep: TransUnion, Jan: Equifax, etc. But they charge for the credit score. Maybe 5 months will avoid Jan 20 and the following year a Jan 19 request will be rejected.