How to get a free Credit Report

Your credit report is like a snapshot of your financial behavior. There are three main companies in the U.S. — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — that collect information about your financial habits to create this picture. This report includes things like how often you pay your bills on time and how much you owe.

Good news is, you can get a free copy of your credit reports from each of these companies every year. To do this:

Go to a website called AnnualCreditReport.com. This is the official place where you can get your free credit reports.

When you get to the website, it will ask for some details about you. This will include your name, address, and social security number. They need this to make sure they are giving the right report to the right person!

After you’ve filled out the form, you’ll have the option to see reports from any of the three companies. You can decide if you want to see them all at once, or you can get them one at a time throughout the year.

Then, you can view your credit report! It’s like getting a snapshot of how you’ve been using your money.

Remember to check these reports each year. It’s important to make sure they’re correct. If you find anything that doesn’t look right, you can contact the company and ask them to fix it.

Just FYI, the credit reports won’t have your credit score. To get that, you can go to CreditKarma.com, which will give you a score very close to your actually credit score. If you want more accuracy, you can probably purchase a report from your bank.