It used to be a fact of life that you had to pay for every credit you got, from every credit bureau you got it from. That fact of life, however, is now gone. Thanks to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, a 2003 amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, it is now law that consumers can request and obtain a free credit report from each of the three major consumer credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) once every 12 months.
The NEW Facts of Credit Reports:
You have a RIGHT to a free credit report from each agency.
All three reports do not have to be ordered at the same time. Doing so allows you to compare the information on the three, but spacing it out to get one, say, every four months allows you to keep track of new changes.
The only government authorized website dedicated solely to providing free credit reports to consumers is Annual Credit Report.com.
Request your free annual credit report by mailing the credit report request form to the following address:
Request your free annual credit report by phone by calling the following number:
1-877-322-8228
Remember that requests made by mail or phone will be mailed within 15 days, with 2-3 weeks for delivery.
Using Annual Credit Rreport.com is the fastest way to obtain a report, as request results are instant.
Free Trials
Now, if you are really not satisfied, there are also free trials available. However, be cautious. There are many tricks and traps that come with “free trials” – be wary of hidden fees for “free” services. That said, here is a table that compares a few free trials available at the time this article is written:
Site
Free Period
Monthly Charge
What You Get
FreeCreditScore.com
7 day
$14.95
Trial membership to Experian’s TripleAdvantage credit monitoring program. This gives you unlimited Experian credit reports and scores (no other scores or reports are available).
CreditReport.com
7 days
$14.95
Trial membership of credit score tracking and 3 credit-bureau monitoring.
Credit.com
30 days
$17.95
Trial of Credit.com’s IdentityGuard Total Protection. With this you receive all 3 credit scores and daily monitoring of all three credit bureaus.
Credit.com
30 days
$14.95
Trial to your Equifax FICO score and 3 credit bureau monitoring.
