Free Annual Credit Reports

Since an amendment to The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was made in 2004, annual credit reports have been available for free. Credit Reporting Agencies (or
CRAs) are required to provide you free copies of your credit report once a year when you submit a request for it to a centralized office. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ensures consumer protection and compliance from the FCRA and CRAs.

It is important to obtain your credit report so that you know what is being reported and that the information is correct. The information in your credit report affects your ability to obtain credit and the price you will pay for it. Employers will often do credit checks on potential employees. Because mistakes or typos can be made, it is important that you have access to your credit report.

The amendment made all three CRAs implement one single website (annualcreditreport.com) so that individuals could request their free credit reports. Although the website was made to offer consumers an easier way to request their reports, many criticisms have been made about the site by various consumer protection groups mainly because there are other websites with names similar to annualcreditreport.com and if accidently you go to the wrong website you could be redirected to paying sites and have your personal information collected without your knowledge. You could even be signed up for services you do not want without your consent. The FTC calls these websites 'imposter' websites.

Unfortunately, the FTC has reported that some CRAs are linked to some of these imposter websites. Recently, a lawsuit was filed against an imposter website by the FTC because the website was advertising free credit reports, but then automatically signing up all consumers, without their consent, to a credit monitoring system that charged a fee until cancelled by the consumer.

The World Privacy Forum reports that over 100 domain names with close misspellings of annualcreditreport exist. In some cases, these websites lead consumers to websites that demand payment for services. Other sites lead consumers to a CRAs websites, where they are charged for copies of their credit reports.

If you want your annual credit report for free without being scammed by imposter websites, only click on search engine results from annualcreditreport.com or type the website into the address bar of your web browser yourself. Make sure the spelling is correct because most imposter websites contain common typos or spelling mistakes to trick unsuspecting consumers. The only non imposter website is annualcreditreport.com. Signs that you have reached an imposter website include websites advertised on television or radio or that feature pop up ads. The real website will not direct you to a different site or send you email.

Also know that your credit card number is not required information, you are only required to provide your name, address, social security number, and date of birth. You may also be asked a personal financial detail that only you would know to prevent anyone else accessing your credit report.  Also remember you are not required to pay for anything.

Instead of ordering free credit reports online, you can use the toll free number 1-877-322-8228.

You can also obtain your credit report by regular mail, of course if you order by mail you must first go to the FTC’s website and print off and fill out the necessary forms.
The mailing address is
Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281,
Atlanta, GA
30348-5281

No matter how you obtain it, remember it is important that you have access to you annual credit report and you can avoid scams.