Annual Credit Report.Com Real Free Credit Reports By Bosoxy on - Updated Oct 15, 2011

https://www.annualcreditreport.com

Most of us have seen the catchy commercials on television or come in contact with the intrusive online Ads for freecreditreport.com. The thing is, regardless of how many times they say free, it really isn't free. You actually have to purchase an expensive membership in their associated program in order to get your free credit reports.

Instead of paying $14.95 a month for those “free” credit reports, click over to https://www.annualcreditreport.com, which was set up under the Federal law that says that Americans have the right to access their personal credit reports for free 1 time per year.

The catch is that each individual is able to access EACH of the 3 top credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, once per year.

In order to really take advantage of the Federal law, I suggest accessing one of the 3 credit reporting agencies every four months instead of accessing all 3 reports at once every year.

Each of these credit reporting agencies usually carry the same information on you, although not always, so you can reasonably keep up with your credit report by accessing an alternating copy every four months. Just keep a record of which report you pull and when so that you will know which one to pull next.

https://www.annualcreditreport.com will allow you to access your credit report online or in print, whichever you are most comfortable with.

There is also a pretty extensive FAQ section that will tell you things like how to request a “fraud alert” on your accounts. This is something that companies charge people to do in order to secure your identity from being stolen. You can actually do this yourself by calling the listed numbers every 90 days. Save your dollars and put up a calendar instead so you can call yourself.

Basically, there are REAL FREE tools out there for us to keep up with and protect our credit and identities if we know where to look. https://www.annualcreditreport.com is a good place to start.

18 Reader Comments
cnt24

I got rooked into that "free" credit report too. I'm going to check out this site. Thanks.

cnt24 commented on
Becky Knouff

Thanks for sharing this......It was very informative. This is much needed information which everyone should find out about.

JOEY

Great information! Why pay for someone else to do something that we can do for free? Plus it is one less place where our info will be stored. The security of some of those pay places is questionable, at best.

JOEY commented on
Chocollette

I love this site!! Of course, I do love the word FREE! It's always nice to check your credit scores at least once a year!!!!

Chocollette commented on
Debbie831

Use them all the time and I do access one every 4 months. Great way to stay on top of your credit score. Thanks

Debbie831 commented on
Tink

Great tips! I think it's important to check out your credit report. Sometimes you might not realize there is a problem until it's too late!

Tink commented on
Mom2One

I use annual credit report every year too. I used to use those "free credit reports" only to be charged! ugh! I think it is very important to check your credit report at least once a year, I think I will follow your suggestion and check on one from the company one every 4 months instead of all 3 once a year!

Mom2One commented on
donnabc

Ah, thanks this is just what I needed to know...and you even provided the link...you're great :0)

donnabc commented on
Jessica Ne

That is a great tip. We just found out about this site a few months ago. One of my pet peeves is all the things that say FREE FREE when they are not. GRR! I was so happy to find this site. Terrific information on it.

Bosoxy

I totally agree with you about when things are advertised for free and are not. There are things that can be had for free, but unfortunately those things are generally harder to find out about than the ones that you get for free after you pay for them. ;-)

Bosoxy replied on
Jessica Ne commented on
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