Have You Checked Your Free Credit Report Lately?

Want to know how to get a free credit report from all three bureaus?

Think of your credit as an asset you own, just like your car or bank account. You take care of those, right (hopefully you do!)? Like your other assets, your credit needs to be maintained and checked regularly for problems. See how to get all three credit reports free below.

Should You Pay for Your Credit Report?

Have you ever said to yourself "I want to get my credit report free online"? The only time I might recommend paying a credit service to monitor your credit is if you just know you won't do it yourself. I guess you must have lots of money though to pay for something you can get for free. Get your credit report for FREE below.

At least once every few months (up to three times a year), verify the status of your credit without paying for it. Here's how to get your free credit report:

Go to annualcreditreport.com - this site is provided as required in federal law by the three major credit repositories (repository means where credit is stored for everyone), so it is a safe, free site.
Don't pay for your credit report when you can get for free! If Google brings up choices and doesn't take you directly to the website, you may need to scroll down a bit to get to annualcreditreport.com. Any other site will likely want you to pay to get your credit, or worse....If you visit one of these imposter sites, you can be sure they will want to sell you something or collect - and then sell or misuse - your personal information. NEVER input your Social Security number on a site you are not 100% sure is one that will not misuse it.
Click on "Request Your Credit Reports".
Fill out your legal name (not your nickname) and your birthday. I do recommend entering your middle initial if you have one. And definitely enter the suffix (Jr., III, etc.) if it applies to you.
Enter your Social Security number. This is required to access your credit file since everything about your credit is tied to your social security number. Don't worry about giving your social security number as this site is not really a private company. Again, federal law requires the three main repositories, which are Transunion, Equifax, and Experian, provide your credit to you free once a year (or weekly, until the Covid exception goes away).
Enter your social security number again to verify you typed it right.
Enter your current legal address. For example, if you are military stationed on a base, you would not give your APO address, you would give your U.S. legal address on file with the military. The last four of the zip code is not required.
Click the button for whether you have lived at that address for at least two years.
If you have not been at that address for at least two years, you must enter your previous address. If you have lived there more than two years, go to step 11.
Click Next.
You CAN request all three repositories (Experian, Transunion, and Equifax). But in order to be able to do this more than once a year, click only one. Select the first one if this is your first time doing this. They may show in a different order each time so you may want to make a note of the one you requested, on your calendar maybe.
If you are preparing for something large, such as a car or a home, you may want to get all of your credit reports now so you can correct any mistakes on all of them right away. If you can't correct something negative, at least you will know what to expect when you are applying for credit.
Click Next. Each of the three repositories handles the next step a little differently. See below for the repository you chose.

TRANSUNION

Transunion asks you to verify that the information you provided so far is correct. Then they ask for your email and phone number. While you may find it annoying to provide this information, they use it to match emails and phone numbers on file for you, to verify your identity. Click "Accept and Continue".
Next is 2-factor authentication. Receive a text or phone call to get a Security Passcode you will enter. As is typical, you have a time limit to enter this code.
Scroll down to review your credit. Bad credit items will appear at the top. These are the items causing your score to be lower than ideal.

EXPERIAN

Experian will ask you to confirm your identity by entering your email and cell phone. You will then receive a link you need to click on your cell phone. Once you have clicked the link, it will take you to some questions which are based on your credit report.
Answer all three questions correctly, and it will display your credit report with Experian. (Scroll down.) If you see any inaccurate information, click "Start a Dispute". Although it says you don't need to dispute personal information because it doesn't affect your credit score, if, for example, it shows a prior address where you have never received mail or lived, you should dispute it because if you apply for a mortgage, the mortgage company will ask you to explain that prior address you have not disclosed.
Experian will let you sign up for a free MONTHLY score, which is great. Just remember this is the score from only ONE repository and is not a complete picture of your credit.

EQUIFAX

Equifax will ask for your cell phone number and email and will send a passcode to the one you select. Enter the code and "Continue". Your Equifax credit report will then display in a summary format. Click on the options on the left side for the detail.
What I really like about Equifax is they provide your "credit utilization" percentage for each account. If you are over your limit (greater than 100%), you want to fix that ASAP. If your utilization is a high percentage, work hard on paying that account down as fast as you can.

Bam! Wasn't that easy? Now all you have to do is get the next repository in four months, and then the next one in four months, and then start over with the first one. This way you can get your free annual credit report online three times a year! Take full advantage!

Now let's talk about what to do with this information...Click on a topic you would like to know more about:

Empowering We Regular People to Realize the American Dream

Home | Privacy Policy | Contact | About Me