Credit is important in many aspects of our lives. Having good credit not only influences the decisions of insurance companies, landlords, utilities, and employers, but it also increases your chances of borrowing money and getting a lower interest rate. There is no better way to monitor your credit than to check your credit report regularly, and fortunately, federal law gives you the right to receive free annual credit reports.
While the process itself is simple, the official method of requesting a credit report and/or not knowing how often you’ll receive a report from the same company can make it seem more difficult than it really is. If you follow these steps, you shouldn’t have any problems.
Main recipients
- There are three ways to request your credit report: by phone, by mail, or online.
- Before submitting your request, please ensure that you have all necessary personal information, including your Social Security Number.
- While you can request a credit report from all three credit reporting companies at the same time, the best strategy is to order a report from a different company every four months.
- Once you receive your credit report, carefully review it for any errors or suspicious activity on your personally identifiable information (PII), credit accounts, credit inquiries, and public records and collections.
- Once you know how to check your credit report and what to look for when reading it, be sure to repeat the process regularly.
Decide how to request a report
You are entitled to one free credit report every 12 months from the three major consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You can request and review your credit report in one of the following ways.
- Online: Complete the online application process at AnnualCreditReport.com, the official government website for requesting credit reports.
- Tel: (877) 322-8228
- By mail: Download and complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form. Completed form should be mailed to: Annual Credit Reporting Service, PO Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
AnnualCreditReport.com online application page.
Image courtesy of AnnualCreditReport.com
Be wary of suspicious websites that offer free credit reports, especially those that mimic the name and design of AnnualCreditReport.com. Some sites will only give you a free report if you purchase their products or services, while others will give you a free report and then charge you for a service that you must cancel. To make sure you are visiting the correct website, you can type www.AnnualCreditReport.com into your web browser’s address bar or visit the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) website. If you find a link to AnnualCreditReport.com on a website or email you don’t trust, proceed with caution and do not click it.
You may also qualify for additional credit reports if you meet any of the following criteria:
- If you receive a notice of denial of credit, insurance, or employment, or if you suffer another adverse action because of your credit report, you have the right to receive a free report from the credit reporting company named in the notice. You must request this report within 60 days of receiving the notice.
- You believe your documents are invalid due to fraud.
- You request a credit report from a national credit reporting company in order to file an initial fraud alert (you can request two free copies for an extended fraud alert).
- You are unemployed and wish to apply for employment within 60 days of the date you file your application.
- You are a recipient of public welfare assistance.
- Your state law requires free credit reports.
In addition to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, you can also get your credit report from specialized consumer reporting companies. You should request a report from each company, and while many will provide a free credit report every 12 months, others may charge you directly. The CFPB compiles a list of several such companies and updates it annually.
Prepare your personal information
To request a credit report, you will need to provide a lot of personal information, including your full name, date of birth, mailing address, Social Security Number (SSN), and (if you have moved within the past two years) your previous mailing address. Additional information may be required to process your request, in which case the consumer credit reporting company requesting your credit report will contact you by mail. Because this information is used to identify you during the inquiry process, omitting any information from your submission may delay your inquiry.
While you should be familiar with most of this information, some details, such as your SSN and previous mailing addresses, can be difficult to remember. While you can easily pause while filling out a mailed application or applying online, if you don’t have all of this information on hand when you’re called, you may need to slow down or start the application process at a different time.
When you request a credit report online, you will be asked several security questions about your financial situation that only you must answer (e.g., the date you applied for a certain car loan, your mortgage payment amount, etc.). Because these questions vary from person to person, it can be difficult to fully prepare. Note that if you request a credit report by mail or over the phone, you may not be required to answer any security questions.
Submit a credit report request
Once you’ve chosen how to request your credit report and have all your personal information ready, it’s time to submit or file your application. You can request reports from all three companies at once, or you can order them one at a time. As for the latter, you can track your credit health by asking each company you report to (for example, first Equifax, four months later Experian, four months after that TransUnion, and then repeat). You don’t have to pay anything. After you receive your free annual credit report from a company, you can still request another report from the same agency, although you may have to pay up to $13.50 for each subsequent report until 12 months have passed.
Read your credit report carefully to check for errors
Once you receive your credit report, be sure to read it carefully to ensure that all of the following information is accurate.
- Personally Identifiable Information (PII): Your name, address, SSN, date of birth, and employment information.
- Credit accounts: Type of account (credit card, auto loan, mortgage, etc.), date the account was opened, credit line or loan amount, account balance, and payment history (i.e., whether you make payments on time).
- Credit Inquiries: A list of all people who have accessed your credit report in the past two years, including both soft and hard inquiries. When you apply for a loan, you authorize the lender to request a copy of your credit report.
- Public records and collections: Credit bureaus can collect public record information, including bankruptcy information, from state and county courts. Also, if you have any past-due debts that have been referred to a collection agency, this will also appear on your credit report.
While it’s still a good idea to check for errors like name changes or address changes, this personal information isn’t used to calculate your credit score, so it’s not as important to correct. However, if the name or address on your credit report doesn’t match where you live or travel, it could be a sign of suspicious activity like identity theft.
If you find any errors on your credit report, you can dispute them by contacting the credit reporting company and the business (also called the provider) that provided the incorrect information. You must explain in writing what the error is, why it is a mistake, and provide copies of documents that support your claim.
While your credit report is used to calculate your credit score, the information in the report does not include the score itself. Your credit score is created by different companies or lenders, each of which may have a different credit scoring system. You can view your credit score from multiple sources, such as the three major credit reporting agencies.
The CFPB website provides additional instructions and sample letters to credit reporting companies and mortgage lenders disputing inaccurate information in your credit report. It also provides contact information for the three major consumer credit reporting companies.
Repeat this process regularly
Once you know how to request and read your credit report, it is important to repeat the above steps regularly to keep track of your credit status. In addition to allowing you to track your credit progress, this system will also allow you to better track potential problems or errors. As mentioned earlier, this can be easily achieved by obtaining your free annual credit report from one of the three major credit reporting companies throughout the year.
How do I get my free annual credit report?
There are three ways to request your free annual credit report:
- Online: You can request a copy directly from AnnualCreditReport.com.
- Tel: (877) 322-8228
- By mail: Download the completed Annual Credit Report Request form and mail to: Annual Credit Report Request Services, PO Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
What is the best website to get my credit report?
AnnualCreditReport.com is the official government website for requesting credit reports from the three major credit bureaus, namely Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Does requesting your annual credit report raise a serious question?
Requesting a copy of your credit report is a soft inquiry. Unlike a hard inquiry, soft inquiries do not affect your credit score and are not shown to lenders. They are visible only to you and remain on your credit report for up to 24 months.
in conclusion
While it’s a five-step process, there are enough rules, exceptions, and bad actors that requesting your free credit report can be at least a little confusing if you don’t know what to look for. However, deciding on the method and schedule for requesting your credit report that best suits your needs will make it easier to manage your credit history and protect your financial health while doing so.
