Thanks to federal law passed in 2005, every US citizen is now eligible to receive one free credit report annually, upon request, from each credit bureau, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion where you can check your credit report online.
Annual Credit Report.com is the only website authorized by the Federal trade commission to provide you with your free credit report annually from all three credit bureaus.
Here’s how to get your free credit report online?
- Go to AnnualCreditReport.com
- Identify your state of residence and click on it. Then enter your name, date of birth and social security number.
- Choose which credit bureau you want the report from - Experian, Equifax, TransUnion or all three.
- Now you will be directed to the individual credit bureau’s website.
- Create a special user name and password and answer 3 confidential questions to verify your identify
- Once you are finished come back to AnnualCreditReport.com and follow instructions
- Your credit report will be viewable online immediately!
Alternatively, you can go to each individual credit bureau’s website.
In order to better manage your finances, it’s advisable to monitor your credit report on a regular basis, preferably every 3 to 6 months. But keep in mind that this free credit report is NOT your credit score or FICO score that creditors or lenders used to gauge your creditworthiness.
Your credit report is only a rundown of your personal information, credit accounts, current obligations, credit inquiries and your payment history that determines your credit score.
To view the actual score that the lenders are seeing, get your score (plus 3 in 1 credit report) from freecreditscore.com for free.