How can I get my credit report for free?

John W. Schoen Senior Producer • Profile • E-mail

June 6, 2005 — Answer Desk readers seem to spend a lot of time wondering (and worrying) about their credit rating. Chris in North Carolina wants to find out what the credit bureaus are saying about him — but he doesn't want to have to pay for it. Meanwhile, with interest rates on student loans set to rise July 1, Liggia in Miami wants to consolidate her loans — but she's worried that it will hurt her credit rating.

CREDIT FREEBIE
I understand that I can get a free credit report from each of the three credit agencies. What I don't know is whether requesting these reports could actually negatively impact my credit score in the short term. I understand that these agencies factor in how many times your credit information is accessed in determining your credit score. I am preparing to buy a house and would like to verify that the information in my reports is correct, but I don't want to have my credit score lowered in the process.
— Chris, Cary, N.C.

Go ahead and order up a copy of your report, Chris. The credit police can’t ding you for simply finding out what they’re saying about you. (And earlier edition of the column incorrectly reported that North Carolina residents were eligible for a free report. Unfortunately, consumers your state will have to wait until the program is fully completed in September.)

It’s true that multiple credit inquiries from different lenders at the same time might hurt your credit rating — on the theory that you’re out there shopping for debt and may be taking on more than you can handle. But our MSNBC.COM colleague Bob Sullivan — who knows this stuff inside and out — says those kinds of credit checks are what are known in the trade as “hard polls” of your file. When you just ask to see what’s in your own file, that’s a “soft poll” and won’t — or shouldn’t — change your credit score.

Until recently, you had to pay each credit bureau to find out what they were telling lenders about you. And if you go directly to the Web sites of the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — they’ll still try to charge you for your report. They’ll offer you either one report at a time or a “subscription” giving you periodic updates of what they’re saying about you.

But under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 — the so-called FACT Act — you’re entitled to a free copy of your report, once a year, from each of those three credit bureaus. Your free report should tell you what’s in your file — both outstanding debts and those you’ve paid off, along with how well you’ve kept up with your payments and who has seen the information.

THE ANSWER DESK The archive Answers to earlier reader questions

Because the service was phased in over time, if you live in most of the Northeast and MidAtlantic, you’ll still have to wait for your free report until this September. State laws in Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Vermont require that the credit bureaus give you a free report. But they don’t make it as easy.

If you live in the rest of the country, just go to a Web site called AnnualCreditReport.com and order your free reports. You can download them from the Web site or have them delivered by mail within two weeks. If you prefer, you can also request a copy of your report by mail or by phone. You can order from all three bureaus at once — to compare what everyone is saying about you at the same time — or order from just one bureau every four months to track changes through the year.

But use the link on this page or be sure to type the address carefully. Bob Sullivan reports that there are dozens of sites out there hiding in the bushes — with similar words or spellings — that claim to offer free reports but end up charging you a fee.

Alas, you’ll still have to pay the credit bureaus to find out your credit score — the three-digit number that, judging from the Answer Desk mailbag, a lot of American borrowers have come to obsess over.

For a look at how credit bureaus come up with your three-digit score, head over to Fair Isaac & Co. Web site. That’s the company that came up with the original “FICO” scoring system. Keep in mind that each credit bureau may use a slightly different formula, so you may get a different score from each bureau.

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