Free Annual Credit Report

If you are like many consumers, you have probably asked yourself “how can I get a free copy of my credit report?” Getting a free copy of your credit report is not a hard process but you have to know where to look if you want to get a copy of your report that is truly free. There is an endless list of online companies that claim to offer a free copy of your credit report, but most of these companies require you to enroll in some type of program that is independent of your actual credit report and will end up costing you membership fees. Some of these companies offer these programs on a trial basis or allow you to cancel before you are billed and will still provide you with your credit report, but you have to be careful that you do not get charged if you want a truly free credit report.

There are some pros and cons of obtaining your credit report from an online company that provides a “free” credit report after you sign up for their services. If you are interested in monitoring your credit regularly or having some sort of identity theft protection these services are the ones most commonly offered by these companies and are usually available at a reasonable price that can be worth it if you are interested in them. If you are not interested in additional services, you can still usually get away with just your credit report for free, but you have to be careful. You must make sure that you are able to cancel your membership before being billed. Some companies allow you to do this and others require a certain length of paid membership in order to get your credit report. Before using one of the online companies to get your credit report, make sure you read the fine print and either want the paid services that are included or are able to cancel before you are charged. You can also use these companies to request your credit report more often than you can get your free copy from the major credit reporting agencies, whether or not you pay.

Getting your free credit report without paying a dime or being enrolled in any type of additional services is possible, but every consumer is only entitled to one free copy from each credit bureau per year. You can contact each credit bureau, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion individually or visit annualcreditreport.com to get your credit report, (one from each company,) totally free in accordance with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. You do not have to provide any credit card information as you do with other credit report websites and do not have to worry about being enrolled in any type of programs or having to cancel anything to prevent being billed. The only downside is that you are only entitled to one credit report from each company each year so if you request them all at the same time your will have to wait a year to get your free credit reports again with no hassle. You can also space out your free credit reports and get one every few months, but if you want access to your credit report more often than this thrn you will have to use another credit report service.