FTC Free Credit Report
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US-based consumer protection agency, is responsible for enforcing the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The FCRA gives you the right to ask for a free credit report from consumer credit reporting agencies (CRAs) once a year.[br]
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FTC Free Credit Report: Where to get it?
According to the FTC, free credit reports can be obtained from only one authorized source, annualCreditReport.com. This source gives you access to a credit report from each of the three key CRAs – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. However, a consumer can access the free report only once a year. This is in accordance to the amendments to the FCRA.
FTC Free Credit Report: How to get it?
The FTC free credit report can be obtained via three methods:
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Visit the annualCreditReport.com site and request a credit report.
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Call the toll-free number 1-877-322-8228
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You can also mail your completed annual credit report request form to:
Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
Irrespective of the manner in which you request your credit report, you can either request reports from all three key credit bureaus simultaneously or order one report at a time. While obtaining all reports simultaneously will provide you with comprehensive data, requesting the reports separately will provide you the opportunity to monitor your credit report more frequently during a given year.[br]
FTC Free Credit Report: Caution
While obtaining the FTC free credit report, you need to be careful about the following:
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There are several other websites that claim to offer “free credit reports,” “free credit scores,” and even “free credit monitoring service.” However, you must be cautious as these sites are not part of the official annual free credit report program. Moreover, in most cases, the “free” product comes with strings attached.
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Some sites sign you up for a supposedly “free” service that converts to a paid one after the trial period ends. Although the sites stress that you can cancel the service anytime during the trial period to avoid paying fees, you might not be able to so due to technical issues in the site or you may just forget to. As a result, you might end up paying a fee for the service that was initially promoted as a free offer.
