100% Free Credit Reports

Are you sick of all those "free credit report" sites that require you to sign up for a trial, or pay just $1, to see your credit report? There is actually a 100% free way to check your credit report, from three different companies. Thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, each nationwide consumer reporting company (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian) is required to provide you annually with one free credit report. You can order your report completely for free online, by telephone, or by mail.

To check your credit report through any or all three of these three companies, go here. Reports are provided for free only through this website, you cannot access these companies individually for free reports. You can call 1-877-322-8228 to order your report, or you can fill out the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. In some cases, you may have a security freeze on your credit file or your information may not match what is on file, in which case you'll have to mail the annual credit report form to the above address instead of ordering by phone or online.

What you can expect to see on your free credit report is information on how you pay your bills, whether or not you've been arrested or sued, where you live, and whether you've ever filed for bankruptcy. You won't see your actual credit score on this report.

Remember, your report(s) will only be available once a year, so make sure you print your report and keep it for your records.

Unfortunately, the only way to obtain your credit score is by paying a fee to companies such as FreeCreditScore.com or TransUnion.com. You can try Quizzle.com, which promises no trial offers or monthly fees, but the site was unable to locate me when I tried it so I cannot guarantee its accuracy. The credit score it provides, however, is not a FICO score -- it's an estimate of what your credit score is. If you like, you can also estimate your credit score using Credit.com's free score calculator. All you need to do is input a few details about your credit history (negative balances, credit card balances, number of credit card applications, etc.) to receive an estimate of your score.