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Check your credit report at least once a year

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advises consumersto check their credit reports at least 

once a year.

Consumers can receive free copies of their credit reports every 12 months

from AnnualCreditReport.com. Thisis the only authorized source under federal law that provides

free credit reports from the three major national credit reporting companies – Equifax, Experian 

and TransUnion. Other websitesthat promise free credit reports may require you to sign up for 

“free trials” that eventually charge you or purchase other products or services you may not need.

Check your credit report to:

1. Look for and fix mistakesthat could hurt your ability to get credit.

2. Be sure your information is correct and up-to-date.

3. Guard against identity theft.

Mistakesin your credit reports, or fraud caused by identity theft, can make borrowing more 

expensive or prevent you from getting credit.

Common mistakes in credit reports include:

• Loans and credit accounts you’ve never opened.

• Misspelled name, wrong Social Security number, wrong address or phone number.

• Accounts wrongly listed aslate, incorrect balances, incorrect credit limits, closed accounts 

listed as open, incorrect delinquency dates, or accountslisted more than once.

Dispute mistakes you find.

Your credit report will include information about how to dispute a mistake. If your dispute is about 

a credit account, you should send a dispute letter to both the credit reporting company and creditor 

that wasthe source ofthe information.

Your dispute should clearly explainwhat you think is wrong and why. State the facts, explainwhy 

you are disputing the information, and request that it be corrected.

In your dispute letterto the creditor, you may want to enclose a copy of the relevant portion of your 

credit report. Highlight the itemsin question. Also include copies of documentsthat support your 

position. Never send your original documents. Keep copies of your dispute letters and enclosures.
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The credit reporting company and the creditor should investigate the dispute or fix any mistake.If 

the disputed information is wrong or cannot be verified, the creditor must delete or change it and 

provide a correction to the credit reporting companies that received the disputed information. If an 

investigation doesn’t resolve your dispute filedwith a consumer report company, you can ask that a 

statement of the dispute be included in your credit file and in future credit reports.

TIP: If you suspect that the error on your report is a result of identity theft, you will need to file a 

dispute to correct it. For information about identity theft and stepsto take if you have been 

victimized,You can also visit the Federal Trade Commission’s Fighting Back Against Identity 

Theft website, http://www.ftc.gov/idtheft/

You don’t need to pay for credit monitoring.

Many companies that promise free credit reports want to sign you up for credit monitoring services 

or other products. You can take these free or lower cost stepsto protect yourself.

• Monitor your credit yourself: Under the law, you are entitled to a free creditreport every

12 months from each of the nationwide credit reporting companies. You can get these 

reports all at once, or spread them out. For example, you could

visit AnnualCreditReport.comin January to get yourExperian report, in April to check your 

Equifax report, and again in August to get your TransUnion report. By rotating your 

requests thisway, you can keep a periodic eye on your credit records for free.

• Put the freeze on identity thieves: You do not need to pay a credit monitoring service to 

stop thievesfrom opening accounts with your information. Contact Equifax, Experian

and TransUnion and ask that they put a freeze on your credit reports. A freeze prevents

prospective creditors from accessing your credit file unless you lift the freeze for that

creditor or for a specified period of time. Typically, creditorswon’t offer you credit ifthey

can’t access your credit reporting file, so a freeze prevents you or others from opening 

accountsin your name. Freezes are generally free for victims of identity theft.

• Request a fraud alert: If you believe that you have been or are about to become the 

victimof identity theft or fraud, you can place a fraud alert on your credit report.

1 A fraud 

alert requireslenders to take steps to verify your identity before opening a new account in 

your name, or issuing an additional credit card or increasing the credit limit on an existing 

account. You can also provide a telephone number so lenders can call you to verify your 

identity. (A fraud alert does not prevent a lender from opening credit in your name.)

• Servicemembers: If you are a member of the military on active duty, you may place an 

“active-duty alert” on your credit report to reduce the risk of identity theft while you are 

deployed. This alert lets a business know that you are probably out of the country,so the 

businessis required to take reasonable stepsto verify your identity before issuing credit in 

your name. More information about active-duty alerts can be found on Ask CFPB

at consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb.

If you have complaints or concerns about a credit monitoring service, contact the CFPB, <link: 

https://help.consumerfinance.gov/app/creditreporting/ask>, (855) 411- CFPB (2372).

1 consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb/3 1/what-do-i-do-if -i-think-i-have-been-a-victim-of-id entit y-theft.html