You can check your credit report for free every week at AnnualCreditReport.com, the only site authorized by federal law for free reports from all three national credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The three bureaus have permanently extended their weekly free access program, so there’s no limit of once a year anymore. You don’t need to pay anyone or sign up for a subscription to see your full credit report.
Use AnnualCreditReport.com for Full Reports
AnnualCreditReport.com is the official, government-mandated site. Federal law gives you the right to a free copy of your credit report every 12 months from each of the three bureaus, but the bureaus now let you pull reports once a week at no cost. That means you can check all three reports today, then check them again next week if you want.
On top of that, Equifax offers six additional free reports per year through 2026, also available through AnnualCreditReport.com. These are separate from the weekly access, giving you even more flexibility with Equifax specifically.
To pull your reports online, visit AnnualCreditReport.com and select which bureaus you want. You’ll need to provide your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth. The site will ask a few identity verification questions based on your credit history, things like which lender holds your auto loan or what street you previously lived on. If you answer correctly, your report loads immediately.
Other Ways to Request Your Report
If you prefer not to go online, you have two other options. You can call 877-322-8228 to request reports by phone. Or you can download the Annual Credit Report Request Form from the FTC’s website, fill it out, and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. The mail option takes longer, typically a few weeks, but it works if you can’t verify your identity online.
On the form, you simply shade in which bureaus you want reports from. You can request one, two, or all three at once.
Why You Should Check All Three Bureaus
Your credit report isn’t a single document. Each bureau compiles its own version based on what creditors report to it, and not every creditor reports to all three. A credit card that shows up on your Experian report might be missing from your TransUnion report. An error could appear on one report but not the others. Pulling all three gives you the complete picture and helps you catch problems you’d otherwise miss.
What to Look for on Your Report
Your credit report lists your open and closed accounts, payment history, balances, credit limits, and any collections or public records like bankruptcies. It also shows hard inquiries, which are records of when a lender checked your credit because you applied for something.
Scan for accounts you don’t recognize, which could signal identity theft. Check that balances and payment histories are accurate. Late payments that you actually made on time, accounts listed as open that you closed, or balances that don’t match your records are all worth disputing. Even small errors can drag down your credit score or cause problems when you apply for a loan.
How to Dispute Errors
If you find a mistake, you can file a dispute directly with the bureau reporting the incorrect information. All three bureaus let you submit disputes online through their websites. You can also dispute by mail, which creates a paper trail if you want documentation.
Once a bureau receives your dispute, it generally has 30 days to investigate. If you filed the dispute after pulling your free annual report, the bureau gets 45 days instead. If you send additional supporting documents during the investigation, the timeline can extend by 15 days. After completing its investigation, the bureau has five business days to notify you of the results and send you an updated copy of your report.
If the investigation confirms an error, the creditor that furnished the wrong information is required to send the correction to every bureau it originally reported to. That said, it’s still worth checking your other reports to make sure the fix actually shows up everywhere.
Avoid Lookalike Sites
The only official site is AnnualCreditReport.com. Other websites with similar-sounding names may try to sell you credit monitoring subscriptions, charge fees for reports you’re entitled to for free, or collect personal information for phishing purposes. If a site asks for a credit card number before showing you a report, you’re not on the right site. AnnualCreditReport.com never charges a fee and never requires a credit card.
Your bank or credit card issuer may also offer free credit score access or basic report summaries through their app or website. These tools are convenient for keeping a casual eye on your score, but they typically pull data from only one bureau and may not show your full report. For a thorough review, go directly to AnnualCreditReport.com and pull all three.