How to Request Your Free Credit Report

Remar Sutton, DCU StreetWise Spokesperson

There is only one official service from which you can obtain the free annual credit report required under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This service is provided jointly by the big three CRAs but is separate from their other proprietary services.

You may order your free reports online at the official website (www.annualcreditreport.com) or make your request by toll-free phone call to 877-322-8228. You may also order by mail using the order form included in this useful factsheet from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC):

Your Access to Free Credit Reports, a fact sheet from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), explains how to use the service, answers questions, and provides contact information.

StreetWise Tip: For safety we highly recommend that if you wish to order online you click on the link we've provided or link to the official website from the Federal Trade Commission's fact sheet. Dozens of unofficial sites (interested mostly in selling you something) and imposter sites (interested in stealing your personal info) are currently active on the Internet.

If you live in the Northeast and want to review your credit report before September 1 or if you wish to review your credit report at more frequent intervals you may purchase individual reports from the three major CRAs: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

We strongly recommend that you ignore all those ubiquitous offers of “free credit reports” or “free credit scores”—at best they are simply bundling the information (probably dated) you can get directly from the sources and at worst you'll hit a scam site.

Other criteria for obtaining a free credit report

Currently any consumer anywhere in the U.S. may also request a free credit report if you've been “denied credit, insurance or employment because of information supplied by a CRA.” You must request the report within 60 days of receiving a denial notice and the party who denied you credit, insurance or employment must provide the name and address of the CRA.

The FCRA also entitles you to a free credit report if you certify in writing that

you are unemployed and will be searching for a job within 60 days
you are on welfare
you are a victim of fraud which has rendered your credit report inaccurate

Note that credit scores are not included in your free credit report

The federally mandated annual free credit report does not include your credit score. If you wish to know this you may purchase it for a modest fee from the Fair Issac company (www.myfico.com) that designed the original system or from any of the big three CRAs.

A note about third-party links – By selecting links on this page, you will leave DCU's web site and enter a web site hosted by an organization separate from DCU. We encourage you to read and evaluate the privacy policy of any site you visit when you enter the site. While we strive to only link you to companies and organizations that we feel offer useful information, DCU does not directly support nor guarantee claims made by these sites.

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