How to Run Your Credit: Free Reports, Disputes, and Fraud Alerts

You can run your own credit report in about ten minutes at AnnualCreditReport.com, the only federally authorized source for free reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. All three bureaus now let you pull a free report every week, so there is no reason to pay and no reason to wait for an annual cycle.¹

What to Have Ready Before You Request

Each bureau matches your request to your file using the same core identifiers. Have these in front of you:

Your full legal name, including any suffix like Jr. or III
Your Social Security number
Your date of birth
Your current mailing address, plus your previous address if you’ve moved in the past two years²

If you request online, the system verifies your identity through security questions drawn from your credit file. Expect something like the monthly payment on a specific loan or the name of a previous lender.³ Miss too many and the site will send you to the mail process with copies of ID instead.

Three Ways to Request Your Report

Everything routes through AnnualCreditReport.com. Any site that charges you, or that asks for a credit card to “activate” a free report, is not the authorized source.¹

Online

Go to AnnualCreditReport.com, pick which of the three bureau reports you want, and clear the identity questions. The report opens immediately in your browser.⁴ Save or print it right then. The session usually expires when you close the browser, and you cannot go back and view the same report later.

You do not have to pull all three at once. Some people stagger a different bureau each month to keep eyes on their file more often across the year.

Phone

Call 1-877-322-8228. You will go through verbal verification, and the printed report arrives by mail within about 15 days.⁴

Mail

Download the Annual Credit Report Request Form from the site, fill it out in black or blue ink using printed capital letters, and mail it to:⁵

Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281

Processing takes about 15 days. This is the slowest route, but it works when the online verification questions keep stopping you.

How Often You Can Pull a Free Report

Federal law entitles you to one free report from each bureau every 12 months.⁶ Since 2023, the three bureaus have permanently extended free weekly access through AnnualCreditReport.com. Equifax is also offering six additional free reports per year through 2026 on top of that.¹

Separate from the weekly access, you qualify for an additional free report when any of the following applies:

A lender, insurer, or employer took adverse action against you based on your report, and you request within 60 days of the denial notice
You’re unemployed and plan to apply for work within 60 days
You’re receiving public welfare assistance
You have reason to believe your file contains inaccuracies because of fraud⁶

For these, contact the bureau directly and tell them which situation applies.

What to Look at Once You Have It

The errors that cost you money hide in details most people skim past.

Personal Information

Confirm your name, address, Social Security number, and employer are correct. A wrong address or misspelled name can mean another person’s accounts have been merged into your file, something the bureaus call a mixed file. It happens most often with common names.⁷

Accounts

For every account, check the balance, credit limit, payment status, and dates. Watch for closed accounts still showing as open, accounts where you’re listed as owner when you were only an authorized user, and the same debt reported twice under slightly different names.⁷ Any account you don’t recognize is the clearest sign of identity theft.

Inquiries

Your report lists every company that looked at your credit. Hard inquiries tied to a credit application you started can slightly lower your score. Soft inquiries, like your own report pulls or pre-screened offers, don’t affect it. A hard inquiry from a company you never applied with suggests someone else is using your information.

How to Dispute Something Wrong

You can dispute online, by phone, or by mail with any bureau showing the error. A written dispute gives you the strongest paper trail. In the letter, include your contact information, a plain explanation of what’s wrong, the account number, and copies (never originals) of anything that backs you up.⁸ Send it certified with a return receipt.

Once the bureau has your dispute, it must investigate within 30 days. That window can stretch to 45 days if you send in more supporting material during the investigation.⁹ If the investigation confirms the information is wrong, or the company that reported it cannot verify it, the bureau has to delete or correct it, send you written results, and give you an updated copy of your report.

You also have a separate right to dispute directly with the company that furnished the information, whether that’s your bank, card issuer, or a collection agency. A direct dispute has to include supporting documentation, such as account statements, a police report, or a fraud affidavit.¹⁰

Your Report Is Not Your Score

Running your credit report gives you the raw data: accounts, balances, payment history, inquiries. It does not give you a credit score. Federal law does not require the bureaus to include a score with the free report.¹¹ Most major banks and credit card issuers now show a FICO or VantageScore on their app or monthly statement for free, and checking it that way counts as a soft inquiry with no effect on the number.

If You Spot Fraud: Freeze or Fraud Alert

Finding something you don’t recognize changes the next step. Two tools work differently, and knowing which to use matters.

Credit Freeze

A freeze blocks anyone, including you, from opening new accounts in your name until you lift it. It stays on indefinitely, and placing or lifting it is free by federal law.¹² You don’t need to be a fraud victim to freeze. Anyone can, for any reason.

You have to contact each bureau separately. There is no single switch for all three.¹³ Online and phone requests must be placed within one business day; mail requests within three.¹² When you need to apply for credit, you temporarily lift the freeze (online or phone lifts take effect within one hour), apply, and refreeze.

Fraud Alert

A fraud alert is lighter. It doesn’t block access to your report but requires lenders to verify your identity before opening new credit in your name. The initial alert lasts one year and can be renewed. You only have to contact one bureau; that bureau is required to notify the other two.¹⁴

If you have already been a victim of identity theft and filed a report through IdentityTheft.gov or with police, you can place an extended fraud alert that lasts seven years. Active-duty service members can place a one-year active duty alert.¹⁴

For most people who have not experienced fraud, a freeze is the stronger protection. For someone who thinks their information may have been exposed but still needs to apply for credit in the near term, a fraud alert is the more workable choice.

1
FTC. Free Credit Reports
2
Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Annual Credit Report Request Form
3
Federal Trade Commission. FTC Consumer Alert – Want a Free Annual Credit Report?
4
Annual Credit Report. Getting Your Credit Reports
5
Annual Credit Report.com. Annual Credit Report Request Form
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681j – Charges for Certain Disclosures
7
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Are Common Credit Report Errors That I Should Look for on My Credit Report
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Do I Dispute an Error on My Credit Report
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy
10
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Regulation V 1022.43 – Direct Disputes
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681g – Disclosures to Consumers
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c-1 – Identity Theft Prevention; Fraud Alerts and Active Duty Alerts
13
USAGov. How to Place or Lift a Security Freeze on Your Credit Report
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Consumer Advice (FTC). Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts