Is a Credit Card Required for a Free Credit Report?

Free Credit Reports

While the federal government notes that all individuals can request a free annual credit report, certain websites offering credit monitoring services and other products--including the credit bureaus themselves--also offer free credit reports to consumers in exchange for trying out these products and services. This process, however, requires individuals to provide the website with their credit card number. Unfortunately, while you can get a free credit report using your credit card, you must cancel the proffered service within a certain period of time to prevent your credit card from being charged. This is not the same as a legitimate free credit report, which does not require you to disclose your credit card information.

The Federal Trade Commission notes that free annual credit reports are only legitimately available through AnnualCreditReport.com. By visiting AnnualCreditReport.com and providing personal information about yourself, such as your name, date of birth, current and past addresses and Social Security number, you can obtain your free annual credit report online without signing up for services you don't want or providing the website with your credit card number. If you are not comfortable requesting your free credit report online, you can request your free credit report by phone by calling 1-877-322-8228.

As a result of the considerable consumer confusion regarding where to go to request a legitimate free credit report, federal law requires all websites that offer a free credit report in conjunction with other products or services to display a disclosure noting that AnnualCreditReport.com is the only federally authorized source of free annual credit reports. This serves to inform the public and protect consumers from inadvertently being charged for products and services they do not want.

Once you request a free copy of your credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com, you must wait 12 months before you can obtain another copy of your credit report for free through that website. That does not mean, however, that you cannot access your credit history during this time. The credit bureaus and other third-party providers offer credit monitoring services. For a fee, these services allow you to access and review your credit history as often as you please. Credit monitoring does, however, require you to have a valid credit card.