Totally Free Credit Report With No Strings Attached

Reader Question: I always see free credit reports advertised online. But when I read the details, it seems that I have to sign up for some kind of credit monitoring service. Is there really a such thing as a totally free credit report with no strings attached ... and if so, where can I find it?

This is a great question, and you are not alone in your confusion. Hopefully, after reading this explanation, you'll never be confused by this subject again.

Yes, there is a such thing as a totally free credit report with no strings attached. And by law, you are entitled to one per year. You see, there are actually three companies who maintain credit data on consumers in the United States. They are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion (in no particular order). So if you want a detailed picture of your credit history, you should request your reports from all three of these companies. They are all independent of each other, so the data contained in any one report will vary.

Here's how you get your totally free credit report with no strings attached. The three companies mentioned above have a jointly owned website at AnnualCreditReport.com, and that's where you would go to request your free credit report. Like I said, you can do it once per year for free.

Your credit score is a different story. If you get your free credit reports through the website mentioned above, you will have to request your score separately (and you'll probably have to pay a nominal fee for the score).

A lot of companies package all of this together and add on other services like credit monitoring. They will refer to it as "3-in-1 credit reports and scores" because it gives you everything at once, often with the monitoring service that is paid on a month-by-month basis.

So to sum up...

• Yes, you can get totally free credit reports from the website mentioned above -- once a year, at least.
• If you request your reports through that website, it will not come with your credit score. You'll have to order that separately and will likely pay a small fee for the information.
• Many companies package all of this stuff together (reports + scores + monitoring) and sell it for purposes of convenience.

Hope that helps!