Consumers entitled to FREE annual credit reports

In June, 2004, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ordered the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union) to begin providing consumers with free annual credit report.  This FTC rule was made under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), enacted December 4, 2003, which amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

There are 3 ways to get your report:

On line:  Go to www.annualcreditreport.com, to access your annual credit report from all of the three nationwide agencies online for free.  Note:  Some of the linked sites offer services for charge.  It is not necessary that you purchase anything to obtain your credit report.

Phone:  You may also call 877-322-8228 to request your credit report.

Mail:  You may request the report by mail by completing the Annual Credit Report Request, and mailing it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA, 30348-5281. [The link here is to a PDF document, and will require a PDF reader.]

Additional services.  You may be asked if you want to purchase other services--such as your credit score or alerts to changes on your report--but you do not need to purchase any other product in order to receive your free credit report.

Caution:  Do not count on your credit report to list all of your debt.  Credit reports generally list credit which has been reported to them by their client lenders.  If you owe money to a creditor that does not report to a credit agency, that debt may not be reported.