📊 How to Get Your Free Credit Reports
Your credit reports show accounts, balances, payment history, public-record information, and inquiries reported to the nationwide credit bureaus. Reviewing all three helps you find errors and possible identity theft before applying for housing or credit.
AnnualCreditReport.com is the website authorized by federal law for free reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The FTC says free online reports from each bureau are available weekly through this official service.
Requesting your own report does not lower your credit score. A credit report and a credit score are different products, and the free report may not include a score.
📋 Documents you'll need
- Full legal name and date of birth
- Social Security number
- Current address and previous address if you moved recently
- Answers to identity-verification questions based on credit history
- A secure device and location for viewing sensitive financial information
🪜 Step-by-step
- Go directly to AnnualCreditReport.com or use the official phone or mail options listed by the FTC.
- Select the bureau reports you want to review.
- Complete identity verification carefully.
- Save or print each report only on a trusted device.
- Compare names, addresses, accounts, balances, payment status, and inquiries across all three.
- Dispute inaccurate information with the bureau and the company that supplied it.
- Report suspected identity theft at IdentityTheft.gov and consider a credit freeze.
| Estimated cost | Free through AnnualCreditReport.com. Avoid sites that require a paid monitoring subscription for the federally authorized reports. |
|---|---|
| Typical timeline | Online reports may be available immediately after verification. Phone and mail requests are generally processed and mailed within about 15 days. |
Frequently asked questions
Will checking my own report hurt my score?
No. Reviewing your own credit report is not a hard inquiry and does not lower your score.
Why should I check all three reports?
Creditors may report to different bureaus, so the files can contain different information.
What should I do about an account I do not recognize?
Contact the bureau and creditor, report identity theft at IdentityTheft.gov, and consider freezing all three credit files.