Getting a credit report for free

Although many people charge for a personal credit report, including the credit reporting bureaus, it is possible to get credit reports without any charge.

Every American is entitled to a free credit report from the three main credit reference bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.  This is available once a year, if a second report is requested within twelve months then there is a charge.

The Federal Trade Commission has required the three major credit rating agencies to set up a service that allows borrowers to access their credit reports for all three agencies. There are three ways of getting a free credit report.  Possibly the easiest way of doing this is to call the request helpline on (877) 322-8228 and it will be sent out.

Another way of getting the report is to go to the website http://www.annualcreditreport.com/.  This will produce a report that can be downloaded or printed.

The final way is to send a postal request that appears on the brochure for the Annual Credit Report Request.  This brochure can be ordered through the Federal Trade Commission.  The request will be processed within 15 days of being received.

Borrowers have a choice of getting one credit report from all three agencies at one time.  However if only one report is requested at the time then there is the opportunity to space the requests out over a year.  There are advantages to both approaches.

If the borrower were to request a different agency report every four months then they would get an idea of how their credit score was developing.  However different credit reference agencies have subtly different criteria and there’s a danger that the differences would merely be one of emphasis.

If all the reports are ordered at once, as well as it having to be less organized it would also give a more accurate snapshot.  So if the person is likely to have a fluid credit history and big events in the near future, such as marrying, moving house or applying for jobs, then it is a good idea to apply for one credit report every few months.  Otherwise applying for all at once is easier and less likely to be forgotten.

If there are inaccuracies on the credit report then they can be challenged.  These inaccuracies don’t just include credit taken by another person or a false statement that an account has been unpaid but also dates of credit events (if the date is in fact earlier than reported it may fall out of the credit report altogether).