Personal credit reports are important in order for someone to borrow money or rent certain things in which credit checks are necessary. There are many services which will do credit checks by phone, online and even in person. The first personal credit check of the year is free but subsequent credit checks may cost money. However, some companies will try to enroll you in programs which will, in turn, charge you for this information.
Annual Credit Report.com
The three national credit reporting companies--Experian, Equifax and Trans Union--have set up www.annualcreditreport.com, a central website where you can order your free annual credit report. There is also a toll free number you can call and order this report, as well as an address in Atlanta, Georgia, where you can mail a request for your credit report. The credit report should be mailed to you within 15 days, and this is the only website where a credit report must be given to you for free, by law.
Information to Provide
To receive your annual credit report one time for free, you need to provide the credit reporting agencies with specific information like your name, address, social security number and date of birth. If you have recently moved--like within the last two years--you may have to provide your previous address. You may be called and asked questions by each credit reporting company because each one deals with different types of credit, ranging from credit card bills to mortgage payments. They only need this information to help you get your free annual credit report.
Imposter Websites
Outside of annualcreditreport.com, there are no websites that must give you your credit report for free, by law. In most cases, these credit reports are given out for free by these companies, but there are strings attached, namely by signing you up for a monthly subscription service that is difficult or painstaking to cancel for people who accidentally sign up for it. These sites will also try to sell you things or collect your personal information so they can sell that or send you a lot of spam. Most of these places are scams, and it would be best to forward any email, pop-up or piece of information about ones other than annualcreditreport.com to the FTC at spam@uce.gov.
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