If you’re thinking that you’d like to check your credit report, you’ve probably come across the www.freecreditreport.com.  Perhaps you’ve even seen their commercials.  And yet, when you go to the site, you realize that in order to get the “free” report, you have to sign up for a credit monitoring service.  That doesn’t sound so “free”, does it?

Fortunately, there are options for an absolutely free credit report.  In fact, the U.S. government recently passed a law requiring all three credit monitoring and report agencies, specifically Experian, Trans Union and Equifax, to offer all consumers access to this most important document at least once a year at no cost.

What is an Absolutely Free Credit Report?

While we’ve heard the adage that nothing is really available for free, in this case, it actually is, but you have to dig a little to find it.  You can gain access to the absolutely free credit report required by law at www.annualcreditreport.com Here you’ll enter your social security number and other personal identifying information.  Then, the system will make your reports from all three agencies available for a limited period of time.

What’s included in the Absolutely Free Credit Report?

Bear in mind that when requesting an “absolutely free credit report”, you will actually be receiving three reports, one from each agency.  Each absolutely free credit report generally includes the following information:

• Personal identifying information, such as current and past addresses
• Past credit accounts, including information on past accounts that have been closed.  Past accounts will be removed from the report eventually.  However, if you have bad past credit, you may find that it will take a couple of years for these bad accounts to be removed.
• Current credit accounts, including information on your payment status with these accounts.  Check with your credit vendor to gain a better understand of what they might consider “late payments.”  Many will allow you to be slightly late on one monthly payment before reporting to the agencies, but this is not always the case.
• Current banking and other accounts

What’s missing?

The one important item missing from your absolutely free credit report is your “credit score.”  Your credit score is the numerical representation of your credit ranking.  It ranges anywhere from below 500 (a very low score) to between 750 and 800 (a very high score).  People with the highest scores will almost always get better interest rates and terms on loans.  People with very low scores will often be turned away.

Your credit score is developed independently by each of the three credit agencies using different criteria. Unfortunately, the score itself is available only from the agencies directly, and you often have to pay for that information.

What happens if I find errors on my Absolutely Free Credit Report?

Once you get your reports from all three agencies you should be diligent in questioning any errors.  Even errors as small as an incorrect address can mean that the credit agency in question has tied your report to another consumer.  If that person has bad credit, if can drag down your score.

To report errors, ascertain which agency has the false information (in some cases it may be just one agency) and then work through that agencies dispute resolution process to have the false information removed.

Remember that under federal law, you have a right to review your credit file at least once per year.  Ensuring the accuracy of this information is one important key to maintaining a positive financial future.