What is a Free Credit Report?

Many companies splash advertisements across the Internet and television that offer a free credit report if you visit their websites. After seeing the ads, you go to the advertised websites and begin the application process only to find out that your credit card is required.

At this point, many people do not question why their credit card information is being required. You input your personal information, provide a credit card and go on your merry way thinking that you just received a free credit report.

Well … it was free … sort of.

Later, monthly charges begin to hit your monthly credit card statements from Company X. You’re livid. You don’t understand how these charges could have been applied to your credit card without your knowledge or express approval. You call the company that originated the charges only to find out that you did, although unknowingly, approve the company to charge your credit card. You find out that you were not charged for the credit report, which was actually provided free. Instead, you paid for a credit score, monthly monitoring of your credit reports or some other service for which you unwittingly paid.

You encounter resistance and sometimes even belligerence from the company representative. You demand that the account for which you’re being charged be closed immediately and ask for a refund. You may, or may not, get your money back. If you do receive a refund, it’s only after wasting your time and suffering mental anguish, frustration and probably financial charges that make you feel violated. You never thought of yourself as someone who would fall for that kind of trick, but you did.

Don’t feel bad. You are only one in a number of many who have fallen prey to these deceptive practices.

Now you know what a free credit report IS NOT. So what IS a free credit report?

So, What Is a Free Credit Report?

With all the companies that charge you for other things in order to obtain their free credit reports, you want to know, then, what is a free credit report?

A free credit report should be exactly what it states – FREE. Again, what is a free credit report? It is a credit report for which you pay no money, and receive for free, WITHOUT providing your credit card information.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) law requires credit reporting agencies to provide a free credit report once every twelve months. You are entitled to one free credit report from each of the major credit reporting agencies once every twelve months. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion are all required by law to provide you with one free credit report a year.

There are websites, also, that do provide free credit reports without making you pay for their products or services. They usually, however, require you to jump through several hoops before you arrive at the free credit report. Tons of personally information is typically required.

In addition, there are some websites that advertise that, along with a free credit report, they provide a free credit rating. A warning to the wise, though, the rating that is provided to you IS NOT typically reflective of the one you would receive from the Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) or one of the three major credit reporting agencies. Many companies have their own credit rating system that does not coincide with mainstream ratings.

The only way to guarantee that you will receive a free credit report without having to dodge an assortment of offers for products and services is to go to annualcreditreport.com. This is one place you will expend minimum effort in order to obtain a free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies in the nation.

So, what is a free credit report? It’s a credit report you receive without having to provide any company with your credit card information.

Now, you no longer have to ask, “What is a free credit report?”