How to get your credit reports free, weekly, from all three bureaus

Search “free credit report” and the first screen is full of sites with “free” in the name, a big score dial, and a signup form that wants a card number “for verification.” Most of them are selling monitoring subscriptions. The free reports that federal law guarantees come from one place, and it never asks for a card.

That place is AnnualCreditReport.com. The three nationwide bureaus run it together, and through it you can pull your Equifax, Experian and TransUnion reports every week. The FTC calls it the only site authorized for these free reports.

The three ways to order

You have three channels, and the FTC says to use only one of them for a given request rather than contacting each bureau separately.

Online is the only option that lets you read the reports the same day. Phone and mail make sense if the online identity check keeps failing.

You don’t have to pull all three at once. Some people spread them out. With weekly access that matters less than it used to, because you can look at all three whenever you want and come back next week.

What you need before you start

Each bureau verifies you separately, so have this ready:

• Your full name, current address, Social Security number and date of birth.
• Your previous address if you moved within the last two years.
• Enough memory of your accounts to answer questions like your monthly mortgage or car payment amount, or which lender holds a particular loan.

The questions come from your own file. If a bureau’s file has an error in it, you can be asked about a loan you don’t recognize, and “none of the above” is sometimes the right answer. If you fail one bureau’s questions, the other two still work, and you can request the failed one by phone or mail.

AnnualCreditReport.com and the bureaus will not email, text or call you asking for your Social Security number or account details. A message that does is phishing, so don’t click the link or reply.

How to spot a look-alike site

The FTC warns that some sites use misspelled versions of the real address, and the CFPB says some “free report” offers only hand over the report after you buy something, or quietly enroll you in a paid service you then have to cancel. A few tells:

• It asks for a credit card. The real reports cost nothing and require no card.
• It leads with a score. Reports from AnnualCreditReport.com do not include credit scores, as Experian’s own page on them says. A site whose headline is your score is a different product.
• The address is off by a letter. Type the address yourself instead of clicking an ad or a link in an email.
• It’s a trial. “Free for 7 days” is a subscription with a delay.

Getting a score free is a separate, legitimate thing, and many banks and card issuers offer one. It just isn’t what the law guarantees, and the score you see may not be the version a lender uses. Our page on free scores vs. lender scores explains the gap.

Other free reports the law gives you

Weekly access is voluntary on the bureaus’ part. The underlying law, 15 U.S.C. 1681j, sets the floor, and it includes several free reports that exist regardless of what the bureaus choose to offer.

The CFPB adds that some states give residents an extra free report under state law. For the adverse action, unemployment, welfare and fraud cases, you contact the bureau directly instead of going through AnnualCreditReport.com.

The adverse action report is the one people forget. If a lender turns you down, the notice names the bureau it used. That report is the exact file the lender saw, and you have 60 days to get it free.

The reports nobody mentions

Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are not the only companies keeping a file on you. Specialty consumer reporting companies track checking account history, rental history, insurance claims and more. The CFPB says you have to request those individually, and most provide a free report every 12 months. If you were turned down for a checking account or an apartment, one of these files may be the reason. Our guide to specialty consumer reports lists the main ones.

A sensible pulling schedule

Weekly access doesn’t mean you need to read your reports every week. This rhythm catches most problems without turning it into a chore:

1. Today: Pull all three and read them once, carefully. Our line-by-line guide to reading a credit report walks through each section.
2. Every month or two: Glance at all three for new accounts, new inquiries, or a late payment you don’t recognize.
3. Three to six months before a big application (mortgage, car, apartment): Pull all three, because errors take time to fix. A bureau gets 30 days or more to investigate a dispute.
4. About 30 to 45 days after any dispute: Pull the report again and confirm the change actually stuck.
5. Right after any denial: Request the adverse action report within 60 days.

Pulling your own report is a soft inquiry. It doesn’t appear to lenders and doesn’t affect any score, so there’s no cost to checking as often as you like. Our page on checking your own credit covers this in more detail.

Do this next

Go to AnnualCreditReport.com by typing the address, request all three reports, and save each one as a PDF with the date in the filename. Those dated copies become your evidence if you ever need to dispute something, and comparing this month’s file with last month’s is the fastest way to spot a change you didn’t make. If you find something wrong, start with how to dispute a credit report error.