Yearly Free Credit Report
You have a right to receive a yearly free credit report from each of the 3 major credit bureaus: TransUnion, Experian & Equifax. You should take advantage of this privilege and order your free annual credit report to monitor your credit history, check for errors and dispute them.How to Order Your Yearly Free Credit Report?
The credit bureaus have made it easy for everyone to ask a copy of their free annual credit report by setting up a central Free Annual Credit Report Request Service (www.annualcreditreport.com) that process the requests for all the three free credit reports (See Free Government Credit Report for more information).
The Annual Credit Report Request Service provides three ways to order your report: Online, Over the phone or by mail. Ordering your yearly free credit report online has the advantage that you get immediate access to your reports, and you can also download and print them.
You also get the option to order a separate report from a single credit bureau of your choice, or you can order a combined report from the three major credit bureaus. Most people order the combined report (also called 3 in 1 Credit Report) because it’s much simpler to check, compared to three single-bureau credit reports.
Each of the 3 major credit bureaus also sell credit reports to consumers in their websites, but these reports are NOT part of your government mandated annual free credit report. The ONLY place to get your yearly free credit report is the central Credit Report Request Service.
Personal Information Scams Warning
There are plenty of scam websites that attempt to steal your personal information.
The Annual Credit Report Request Service will not call or send you an email asking for personal information. If you do receive such a request – DO NOT respond to it!
Also, avoid using any other website that advertize “Free Credit Reports” or “Free Credit Scores“. Most are imposter sites that either try to steal information from you, or charge you a fee for a service that’s free by law!