Free Weekly Credit Reports Extended Through 2023—How To Get Yours

The three national credit bureaus announced Sept. 23 they would extend free weekly access to credit reports through December 2023.

Consumers’ free access to each of their three credit bureau reports—Experian, Equifax and TransUnion—had been scheduled to sunset at the end of the year.

In a joint announcement, the CEOs of all three bureaus stated that their decision to extend the program is a response to the inflated cost of living and lingering impact of the pandemic.

“Credit reports play an important role in financial health, and providing weekly reports for consumers at no charge is another way that we can support financial education and stability for people across the U.S. at this critical time,” the announcement said.

Why Does Credit Access Matter?

Credit reports impact financial opportunities.

These reports don’t show a credit score, but provide a history of your financial activities, including payment history and balances for credit cards, mortgages and loans.

The information in your credit report can dictate whether you’re approved for loans and credit cards, how much you pay to borrow money, your car insurance premiums, your ability to find an apartment, whether you qualify for certain jobs and more.

But prior to April 2020—when the credit bureaus widened access to reports to help consumers track the status of their financial accounts in Covid-19 forbearance—consumers could only view their free credit reports once per year per bureau, for a total of three free reports.

Continued increased access means consumers will have more control over their financial well-being.

“This not only helps consumers monitor their financial health but also spot potential identity theft or fraud early on,” said a spokesperson for The Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA), the trade association for consumer credit reporting companies, in a statement sent to Forbes Advisor.

“It can also help identify any data that may have been furnished inaccurately and ensure that on-time payments are being reported,” the spokesperson said.

Reviewing your reports is key to catching and fixing incorrect information, which is a growing problem for consumers.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which collects and investigates consumer complaints, consumers submit more complaints about errors in credit reporting than any other problem.

That’s one reason nonprofit publication Consumer Reports is advocating for even more access to credit reports. In a September letter to the three credit bureaus, Consumer Reports asked for permanent free access and for the bureaus to improve their reporting accuracy. Consumer Reports also circulated a petition requesting permanent, unlimited access to credit reports, which had roughly 38,000 signatures as of September 23.

“Extending free weekly access to credit reports for another year is a positive step, but credit reports should be made free permanently,” said Syed Ejaz, policy analyst for Consumer Reports, in a statement. “There is no good reason why consumers should be charged at all to access their own financial data. Consumers should be able to check their credit reports at no charge whenever they want so they can easily check for credit-damaging errors.”

How to Get and Use Your Free Credit Reports

You can pull your free credit reports by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com, which is the only federally authorized website that issues free FCRA reports. You can also call 877-322-8228 and have the reports delivered by mail.

Each of your credit reports may contain different information, so it’s important to review all three of them for the following:

Understand Your Credit Profile

Your credit reports are a picture of your credit health. They can show you what you’re doing right and what needs fixing.

If you want to make improvements, these actions can help improve your credit health and increase your credit scores:

• Make on-time payments to your credit cards and loans
• Reduce your credit card balances
• Keep applications for credit and loans to a minimum
• Avoid collections debt by staying on top of your rent, utility bills and other expenses

Fix Errors

Some credit report errors are common and harmless, like a slightly incorrect residential address or a misspelled middle name. The CDIA said that these types of clerical errors do not impact a consumer’s credit score. But the following items will need to be fixed:

• Your current name is not reflected
• A family member’s name appears on your report
• Your date of birth is incorrect
• A payment is incorrectly reported as delinquent
• A collection account on the report does not belong to you
• An account is incorrectly reported as unpaid

You have the right to dispute credit report errors and get them removed. It’s free to file a dispute and it can be done online in a matter of minutes.

To do so, contact the credit bureau using the dispute instructions provided in your report. Once you file, the credit bureau generally has 30 days to investigate, and another five days to send their response.

Note that your dispute is more likely to be successful if you provide evidence, like a receipt for a debt you paid off.

You’re also more likely to be successful if you submit it yourself, rather than going the popular route of hiring a credit repair company.

“Unfortunately, some credit repair companies scam consumers by falsely promising they can dispute and remove negative information from their credit reports, even if the information is accurate,” said the CDIA spokesperson.

Catch Signs of Fraud

The following items on your credit report can be red flags for identity theft or credit card fraud, and require immediate action:

• Names you don’t recognize and have never used
• An incorrect Social Security number
• Accounts that don’t belong to you
• A higher account balance than any balance you’ve accumulated in recent months
• Hard inquiries or applications for accounts you did not apply for

There are many steps necessary to recover from identity theft, but you’ll want to start by contacting the corresponding credit bureau to place a fraud alert on your credit report right away.

Where Else Can You Get Free Credit Info?

AnnualCreditReport.com  is the only reliable source for full credit reports, but you may have additional access to your credit information and scores elsewhere. Just be sure to go through an agency you trust, since fake credit report websites are a common scam. Here are a few options:

• One-time credit pulls. You have the right to pull a free credit report if you’ve placed a fraud alert on the report or if you’ve been denied credit or insurance in the last 60 days.
• Your bank or credit card account. Some banks and credit cards offer free credit score monitoring and they may give you access to information from one or more of your credit reports.
• Credit monitoring services. A credit monitoring service like Credit Karma can give you access to VantageScore credit scores or select information from your credit reports, however you may encounter ads framed as personalized recommendations for financial products.