Can You Get a Free Credit Report Once a Year?

There are two important matters relating to personal finance that you must perform each year. The first is to file your income tax return, and the second is to review your credit report. Yes, reviewing your credit report is that important. Before the enactment of the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1971, this task would be difficult, if not impossible to accomplish. However, FCRA Regulation 609 gives you the right to not only view the contents of your credit report, but to view the contents of your credit report once each year at no cost to you.

Warning

The Federal Trade Commission strongly recommends you ignore marketing advertisements offering you a free copy of your credit report. There are specific procedures you must follow to get your free report, and the sites or advertisements you see provide misleading information and hidden fees. Most often, according to the FTC, these are credit monitoring companies, that, as a condition for receiving your free report, sign you up for their service and charge a monthly fee. Others use the offer of a free report to get your personal information. If you receive any such offers via email, the FTC recommends forwarding the email to spam@uce.gov.

Identification

Regulation 609 requires Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, the three main credit reporting agencies, to provide you with a free, annual copy of your credit report if you ask for it. The report you receive contains credit facts, such as identifying information, credit and public records information and a list of recent inquiries. If your credit report contains errors, you have the right to file a dispute. If it contains out-of-date negative entries, you have the right to request their removal. Each agency must provide information on the process for filing a dispute. Although your free credit report does not include your credit score, each agency must provide information on the process and fee to get your score.

Process

The only way to ensure the report you receive is free is to make your request through AnnualCreditReport.com. This is a central location the three major credit reporting agencies set up specifically for this purpose. You can make your request to each individual agency online, and view your report immediately, by providing your name, date of birth and social security number, as well as current and previous address information. Alternatively, you can make your request over the phone by calling 1-877-322-8228 or by printing a paper application and sending your request via postal mail. AnnualCreditReport.com states you will receive your report with two to three weeks of making your request via the phone or postal mail.

Considerations

Rather than requesting a copy of your credit report from all three agencies at one time, consider spacing your requests so you make a request about every four months. This will, in effect, give you access to your credit report three times a year rather than once, making it easier to monitor your credit and correct inaccuracies in a timely manner.