Free Annual Credit Report

How to Obtain your FREE Annual Credit Report under the FACT (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions) Act

Information provided by the Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency.

The official web site www.annualcreditreport.com is the ONLY authorized online source for you to get a free credit report under federal law.  You can get a free report from each of the three national credit reporting companies every twelve months.

Fair Credit Reporting Act requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every twelve months.  There is only one online source authorized to do so:  annualcreditreport.com.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) advises consumers who order their free annual credit reports online to be sure to correctly spell annualcreditreport.com, or link to it from the FTC’s web site to avoid being misdirected to other web sites that offer supposedly free reports, but only with the purchase of other products.  Consumers are not required to make a purchase to receive their free annual credit reports.

The FTC has received complaints from consumers who thought they were ordering their free annual credit report online.  Some consumers responded to TV ads, e-mail offers or simply searched online.

“Annualcreditreport.com will NEVER send you an e-mail solicitation for your free annual credit report, or use pop up ads.”

File a Complaint

The FTC wants to hear from you if you paid for what you thought was your free annual credit report.  Go to www.ftc.gov and click “For Consumers” on the menu.

SPAM

The FTC also wants you to forward any unsolicited e-mails you’ve received offering you a free annual credit report.  Send them to spam@uce.gov.

Ordering your FREE Annual Credit Report

The three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies have set up one central web site, toll-free telephone number and mailing address through which you can order your free annual report.    To order, go to annualcreditreport.com, call 877-322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to:  Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA  30348-5281.

Do not contact the three credit reporting companies individually.  They are only providing reports through the contacts listed above.