If the thought of identity theft scares you like it does me, or you're looking to make a major purchase and you need to check your credit rating, those ads for companies that promise you "free credit reports" may have caught your attention. Truth is, you don't need those guys. You can get a copy of your credit report for free, all by yourself.The Federal Trade Commission requires the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian (formerly called TRW) and Trans Union to give you a free copy of your credit report once a year. The credit bureaus are not part of the government; they're companies that keep track of your borrowing and debt records so lenders can get an idea of how good a risk you are when you apply for credit or for certain services.
It's really easy to get your free credit report and it's available from only one central place: AnnualCreditReport.com. There are companies that have websites with similar names. And they may offer you a "free" copy of your credit report but you'll have to buy other services from them first to get it. AnnualCreditReport.com is the only official site where you can get a genuinely free copy of your credit report from all three reporting agencies. And if you'd rather order your free credit report by phone or by mail, you can do that too.
You can choose whether you want to get your credit report from just one of the credit bureaus at a time or if you want to get a report that has the information of all three combined. I like to get my reports one at a time, spread out over the course of a year. I stop back at AnnualCreditReport.com every four months for a report—Trans Union in January, Equifax in May and Experian in September, for example. Since all three agencies have very similar information, this allows me to check my credit for free more than just once a year.
When you're on the AnnualCreditReport.com site, you'll be asked some identifying information including your Social Security number. Normally, you wouldn't share that with anybody—especially online—but because this is the official place to get your free credit report, and it's a secure website, it's safe to share the personal information they need to make sure you're you, and to get you the right credit report.
If you've never seen a copy of a credit report or you're not sure how to read one, here's a good sample from Experian. (If you can't see the sample report, you'll need to download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader onto your computer.)
