How to Get Free Credit Reports 3 Times Each Year

Have you ever paid to get your credit report? Then you were swindled.

Maybe you even utilized the free credit report that you are legally entitled to once every 12 months. But it's a wise to check your credit more than once. If you want to check your credit every six months, did you get a free credit report and then pay for a credit report 6 months later? You were savvy to utilize the free offer, but you too were swindled.

How to Get 3 Free Reports Each Year

If you're legally entitled to a free credit report every 12 months, you might be wondering how to get 3 in one year.

First, go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com.

Sign up and get a free credit report. Many of you will have already done this sort of thing before. But there's one important tip. Only sign up for your free report from one of the three reporting companies. Let's say you choose Experian. You'll then be given your report for free.

Want to check your report again a few months later? Go back to http://www.annualcreditreport.com. But this time, get your report from a different reporting company. This time, you might choose TransUnion.

Want to check your credit a third time a few months later? Once again, go back to http://www.annualcreditreport.com and get your report from the third reporting company. Since we've already used our free reports from Experian and TransUnion, we have to use Equifax this time.

And that's it!

The Catch

To be honest there is no catch. Some sites require you to sign up for a monthly or yearly service. You want to avoid these sites. One example is http://www.freecreditreport.com, who has the catchy song in their television advertisements. Each reporting company is legally required to give you a free report each 12 months. So you don't need to sign up for any sites that have requirements or a catch.

Downsides

There is one downside to the How to Get 3 Free Credit Reports Each Year plan. You are only checking your credit with one reporting company each time. There's a small chance that different reporting companies will have different records on you.

But most likely this won't be a problem for you. Every time I've checked my credit with multiple reporting companies, they have all had the exact same information on me.