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The three national credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — have permanently extended a program that lets you check your credit report at each of the agencies once a week for free.

Visit AnnualCreditReport.com to request free copies of your credit reports. Other sites may charge you or be fraudulent sites set up to steal your personal information.

By law, everyone is entitled to one free credit report every twelve months from each of the three credit reporting agencies. In 2020, soon after the COVID-19 pandemic upended the finances of millions of people, the three agencies announced they would temporarily make free reports available every week. The program was extended twice and is now permanent.

Why check your credit report? Your report shows things like how many credit cards and loans you have, whether you pay your bills on time, and whether any debts have been turned over to collections. Creditors, insurers, some employers, and other businesses use it to decide if they want to do business with you — and the terms they’ll offer you.

Mistakes, like accounts or bankruptcies that aren’t yours, can hurt your credit, increase how much you’ll have to pay to borrow money, and even derail your chances of getting a loan, insurance, a rental home, or a job. Mistakes can result from errors by businesses that report credit information to credit reporting agencies. They also can be a sign of identity theft. The sooner you spot a mistake, the sooner you can dispute the error or — if it results from identity theft — report it at IdentityTheft.gov.

To learn more about why your credit matters, read Understanding Your Credit.

Updated October 13, 2023 to reflect the permanent extension of free weekly credit reports. Updated September 23, 2022 to reflect the extension of weekly free credit reports through December 2023. Updated May 2, 2022 to reflect the extension of weekly free credit reports through December 2022. This Consumer Alert was originally posted on March 16, 2021.

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Ryansterling
May 18, 2020
Thank you
Cactusflower
May 18, 2020
If it's free, then why are they asking for credit card information?
TOMMY MAYO
May 20, 2020

In reply to by Cactusflower

YEAH BUT CHARGE YOU $9.95 TO SEE IT>>COVER FEES FOR THE SLUSH FUND?
FTC Staff
May 20, 2020

In reply to by TOMMY MAYO

No.  There is there is no charge to get your free credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com. 

summerinthecape
September 27, 2020

In reply to by FTC Staff

All 3 are still charging for a credit report, claim you can cancel any time.
Docarrie M.
March 16, 2021

In reply to by TOMMY MAYO

The 9.95 is for your credit score. Which is crazy they charge for something that belongs to you and should be part of the credit report.
DaveyBoy
January 07, 2021

In reply to by Cactusflower

I have the same question. IF it's FREE why are we being charged? I didn't pay !!!
FTC Staff
January 08, 2021

In reply to by DaveyBoy

Until April 2021, you can get a free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

There's a large notice at the top of the page about the free reports. 

Robert1138
March 01, 2021

In reply to by FTC Staff

What does "Until April" mean? Is the last "free weekly" day March 31, or April 1, or April 30, 2021? Also, I wonder if you get all 3 free weekly credit reports in March, then after April, can we still get the "one" free credit annual report for 2021 from May through December?
Lourdes
March 16, 2021

In reply to by Robert1138

I always check my credit report and always it had been free, the agencies only charge for the SCORE; many credit cards offers the score for free. I took a identity thieft workshop and they sugest to check the report every 4 month so I am monitoring my credits all year around.
Confused
March 17, 2021

In reply to by FTC Staff

Your article states April 2022; in this response you say April 2021. Clarify please.
FTC Staff
March 17, 2021

In reply to by Confused

The credit reporting companies extended the offer of free credit reports, so we updated the title of the blog. Free weekly credit reports are available until April 2022.

SGS
March 31, 2021

In reply to by Cactusflower

Exactly what I was wondering. Also now that I have done this. Why do they NOT send you your scores, which is what I really need!
Burton Smoliar
May 18, 2020
Trans-Union tries to trick people into subscribing to some sort of service when they request a free report. The FTC should be monitoring and preventing this sort of behavior.
charfred
May 18, 2020

In reply to by Burton Smoliar

Surprised that Transunion is still up to their old tricks. It took me about 10 months to get them to stop their to stop charging me for a service I never wanted or asked for. My credit card company pretended that they were settling the issue, but they weren't. I finally sent my issue to the FTC. It transferred my problem to their Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). They settled my problem in short time and about 10 months of false charges were cancelled out by Transunion. Good work!
Small Business owner
May 18, 2020
The Federal Government should pass some type of Law prohibiting the reporting agencies from lowering credit scores until this country is up and running again. Most Americans I know work hard and pay their bills. Lock Downs and Stay At Home orders are effecting our ability to pay our bills. This should not effect our hard earned credit ratings.
Jamazon77
May 18, 2020
Thats great credit advise, I love the FTC survay aswell.
Curious
May 20, 2020
I noticed the “credit report” does not include the “credit score.” Is there a reason for not including the credit score as part of the report? Thank you
Eric
May 22, 2020

In reply to by Curious

Annualcreditreport.com has been available for many years now, with each of the three agencies offering one report per year. However, these have never included a credit score. They list all of your creditors and the timeliness of your payments, but do not include a score.
Don Wall
May 18, 2020
Free but they make it extremely difficult to retrieve. For instance Equifax indicated that I need to mail in verification of my SS number, employment etc.before they would disclose- more documents than even Homelnd security would require. Transunion had an error, but their website froze everytime I tried to dispute it. Plus they all try to hard sell their overpriced "credit monitoring" programs or FICO scores. Plus I had to turn off my add blocker to access at least one of them. These companies have so much power and ripoff consumers and exploit heir privacy. I hope the FTC can continue to investigate them!
MS
September 01, 2020

In reply to by Don Wall

Yup! Same thing happened to me. Transunion site had errors so bad it wouldn't even load. Equifax said I had to mail in all my information as well. I was finally able to get something from Experian. So much for this being helpful for people during the pandemic.
Audrey A.
May 18, 2020
I appreciate the knowledgeable advice and information the Federal Trade Commission has to offer to the public. I often share this very valuable information on social media for viewing.
Rodney
May 18, 2020
Heart lots of help
burnard
May 18, 2020
I occasionally the FTC's Consumer Information articles on Facebook. Thank you all for being there. : ]
Credit?
May 18, 2020
I have yet to get an answer as to why it takes three agencies to report on a single source of data being reported. The data originates from a single source. Why do you meed to report the exact same data three times?
Mike
May 22, 2020

In reply to by Credit?

Not all reporting sources use all three agencies. Many only utilize one of the three, so it may take a report from all three agencies to see your complete credit history.
Cheryl E
May 18, 2020
I just tried doing the request to TransUnion- got a run around
MarLee
March 10, 2021

In reply to by Cheryl E

I cant get TransUnion to respond. I am getting the RUNAROUND from TransUnion.
David
May 18, 2020
I went to Equifax and I basically wanted a score number. I did get a 45 page report. Looks good. But no score number. The report said to call a certain 877 number for the score. After 10 minutes of phone tree which kept telling me how to get the report, which I had, I gave up.
Em
May 18, 2020
My score has been going up and down every week due to this mess. This is completely negligent.
Credit Reports
May 18, 2020
I have had the same problem of requesting a free report, but they all want you to sign up for extra protection!! Seeing that our information was hacked all 3 Credit Bureaus should offer any extra protection FREE!!!!
Baffled
May 19, 2020
Unable to get my report from Equifax. NO PROBLEM with TransUnion or Experian. What gives Equifax?
Baffled2
May 25, 2020

In reply to by Baffled

Same here, no problems with TransUnion or Experian, but Equifax asked me to verify my identity using the usual questions they ask for that, but none of the questions fit my credit profile and then they said I had to mail in my credit report request! I thought my identity got stolen! Luckily I remembered I had a MyEquifax account that I never sign on to and signed into that and was able to see my credit report on there and everything was fine.
JD
December 20, 2020

In reply to by Baffled2

Equifax has never in over ten years provided a "free" online report. "A condition exists that prevents Experian from being able to accept your request at this time. To obtain your Experian annual credit report, please mail your request to the address below using the Annual Credit Report Request form." It is not free simply because the request will require a postage stamp. The CFPB needs to look into this.
Equifax Horrible
December 15, 2020

In reply to by Baffled

My husband and I had the same issue despite inputting the exact information from our most recent credit reports. Equifax provided a bunch of security questions that were completely unrelated to our credit profiles. This honestly feels like a scam on Equifax's part in preventing people from accessing their credit files weekly. Neither of us have been able to access our Equifax credit files from annualcreditreport. We always have to call the request in. No issues with Experian or Transunion. I would bet everyone is having this same issue with their Equifax report. @ FTC - Please look into this.
LCW
May 18, 2020
Does this also apply if you request it via phone. I don't feel comfortable entering all of that information online. Wouldn't request it weekly via phone but at least monthly or bimonthly.
serpaselsam
May 19, 2020
How I get in touch with the privacy. FTC gov the lawyer here in Las Vegas Vegas thanks
EquifaxVictim
May 18, 2020
Equifax is blocking people from accessing their site. If you don't remember your password or if you don't have one, Equifax will not respond to you. They had a breach and were sued by FTC because lots of people's credit information was exposed in 2017. Equifax won't let victims view their report to see what was affected.
Nhicks
May 18, 2020
I placed a "freeze" on my account several years ago. Do I have to lift the freeze in order to get these free weekly credit reports?
ChrisPDX
May 18, 2020
I was unable to get any of the three, on-line. I must mail in an application. ~Sigh~
Yk
May 18, 2020
Thank You. Also there needs to be an overhaul of the reporting agency's they are not UP-TO-DATE.
Lee-T
May 18, 2020
Well, the credit reporting agencies -- especially TransUnion, most certainly want you to contact them for a credit report. However, it is certainly not "Free." In fact, any person contacting TransUnion and even contacting the two other Credit Reporting Agencies will encounter mindless "offers" from the Credit Reporting Agency. In effect, you might (eventually) get a "free" credit report, albeit an abbreviated one, if you're willing to put up with a Credit Reporting Agency "offer" and their double speak tactics. A better use of time would be for the Credit Reporting Agencies actually better protect your credit file, especially when considering Credit Reporting Agencies get "hacked" frequently and often divulge information that is not to the benefit of the consumer. Buyer beware -- with any Credit Reporting Agency.
D.
May 18, 2020
Why does Equifax say "Online Delivery Unavailable" for my credit report? In fact my husband and I had this same reply and we were told we had to request our reports by mail. The other two credit agencies gave us our reports with no problem.
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