Free credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com

Posted by Caitlin on May 21st, 2009

Here at NextAdvisor.com, we often receive emails from readers who know that they are entitled to one free credit report per credit bureau, per year, but who aren't sure where or how to access their free credit reports.

Those legally mandated free credit reports are available at AnnualCreditReport.com. This site allows you to request one report from Equifax, one from Experian, and one from TransUnion once every 12 months. You can choose to request all three reports at once, or you can space them out over the year. If you request your reports online, you will be able to view them on your computer as soon as AnnualCreditReport.com has verified your identity by asking a few personal questions. If you request your reports by phone or mail, they will be sent to your address within 15 days.

AnnualCreditReport.com is not a credit monitoring service, and they do not provide free credit scores of any kind. It is possible to purchase a credit score from one or more of the bureaus when you request your free credit report or reports. If you wish to request a fraud alert or correct erroneous information on your report, you will need to contact the credit bureaus directly, as AnnualCreditReport.com will be unable to assist you.

While one free credit report per year from each of the 3 bureaus may be useful in a few select situations, in general we do not believe that this is sufficient. If you request all 3 reports at once, you will not be able to access any free reports again for the next 12 months. That leaves an entire year open in which identity thieves could be opening new accounts in your name without your knowledge. And if you space the reports out over the course of the year, you will have no way of knowing whether there is fraudulent or incorrect account information appearing on the other 2 bureaus' reports at any given time. When new information appears on your reports, it is crucial to be aware of this as soon as possible, since time is of the essence when it comes to preventing fraud and ensuring that your credit reports and scores reflect the best possible impression of your overall credit history.

If you'd like to learn more about credit report monitoring services, see our reviews and comparison chart.

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