How to Get An Annual Credit Report For Free

Your Credit Score, known to lenders as your FICO score, has a direct effect on the interest rates you will be charged on all types of loans. The information contained in your Credit Report determines the credit score assigned to you. Knowing what is in your credit report can give you a better idea of what you can expect from lenders. You could even find errors in your report which might be lowering your credit score. You have a right to know what lenders know about you, so here is How To Get An Annual Credit Report For Free!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer

1. By federal law, everyone is entitled to one free credit report every 12 months. There are three main consumer credit reporting companies, and you are entitled to a free report from each of them. Those companies are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. While all three report on your credit, they all may not have the exact same information in your credit file, so it is in your best interest to get all three reports. Your credit report is officially known as a Credit File Disclosure, and it is your right to know what lenders and credit card companies know about you and are basing their decisions on. There are companies that charge you to get your credit history, but don't pay for it - it's yours for free! How do you get it? From the official free credit report site, www.AnnualCreditReport.com.

2. 
   The Annual Credit Report Website Is The Official Free Credit Report Site

   AnnualCreditReport.com is the only official site to obtain your free credit report every 12 months. This site was created by the three consumer credit reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
   (A link to this site is included in the Resources section below.) To get started, go to the website and enter your State in the START HERE section.

3. 
   Enter Your Information On The Secure Site

   You will be required to enter your personal information including your Social Security Information. This is a secure site, so your information will be safe. (To verify that you are on the correct site, be sure that the website address starts with "https://". If the site you are on doesn't have a web address beginning with that, don't proceed any further!) For security reasons, you can choose to have only the last four digits of your social security number to appear on your credit report.

4. 
   Choose Which Service You Want To Get A Report From

   After you submit your information, you will be allowed to select from either Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to get your free report. Choose one and click NEXT. You will be asked to click on NEXT again, and then you will be taken to the selected site.

5. 
   Verify Your Personal Information

   Verify your personal information and hit CONTINUE.

6. You will be asked to verify your identity and your right to access the credit information by answering a question(s) about your credit history. You may also be offered a chance to subscribe to and pay for a service to keep you updated on your credit score, but you can decline this and still get your free credit disclosure report. You will also be given the option to view your credit report online for 30 days, which is also free, but which will require you to set up an account with the consumer credit reporting company. Click on SUBMIT and you will be taken to your free credit disclosure report.

7. You can also request your report by phone. You can call 1-877-322-8228,
   and you will go through a simple verification process over the phone in order to get your report. Your report will be mailed to you within 15 days of when you request it.

8. You can also get your free report by submitting your request by mail. You will need to download the request form (requires the Adobe viewer which you can download from the AnnualCreditReport website if you don't already have it on your computer), complete it, and mail it to:
   Annual Credit Report Request Service
   P.O. Box 105281
   Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
   
   Your report will be sent to you within 15 days of when your request is received in the mail.

9. Why should you review your credit reports every year? Doing so allows you to see what lenders are using to determine your credit rating. It lets you know if there is some erroneous information in your credit history that should not be there. If you do find errors in your report, you can get them corrected or removed, as they can adversely affect your score.

Tips & Warnings

• You can only get each of the three credit reports once every 12 months. You can get them all at once, but it can also be to your advantage to space them out over a years time so that you can get a better ongoing picture of your credit history. Many people request one report every four months, using a different company each time.

Resources

• Annual Credit Report Website

[lighthouse1958]

on 7/3/2009 I got all 3 reports at one time, which like you said I should have spread them apart over the year. We read it and had to have some things taken care of that wasn't even ours. Your article was very informative. Thanks for a well written article. 5* and rec.

[carmensjones]

on 7/3/2009 thank you for the reminder. i try to check twice a year

[keithcs]

on 7/3/2009 Thanks for the info! I need to get one done soon.