Free Experian Credit Report

Knowing what's on your credit report is a crucial part of keeping track of your personal finances. Many people may have credit issues that they're totally unaware of, and the best way to catch these problems quickly is to regularly monitor your personal credit report. But how do you get your credit report? And how much (if anything) does it cost?

Obtaining a Free Copy of Your Credit Report

Searching "free credit report" on the Internet is going to always give you a lot of results, but my advice is to not be fooled by companies offering this service. In many cases, these offers require you to sign up for some type of fee-based service, such as a credit protection plan. In reality, you're not getting a free credit report at all--it's simply an added bonus for signing up for some other service.

If you'd like to get a copy of your credit report, you'll be happy to learn that a new federal law requires each of the major credit bureaus to give you one free copy each year (upon request, of course). That means you are entitled to one free credit report each year from major bureaus like Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Unfortunately, getting this free credit report isn't as easy as visiting the websites of those credit bureaus.

At the time of this writing, your free annual credit report must be obtained by going through a centralized source sponsored by Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. The website for this source is www.annualcreditreport.com and the phone number is 877-322-8228. If you simply visit the website of the credit bureau, you might only be able to get your free report by signing up for some other type of service (like those mentioned above).