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Before COVID-19, consumers were only allowed one free credit report annually from each of the major credit bureaus. Now Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion are making permanent a program that allows you to access your credit reports for no charge once every seven days.
The three major credit bureaus temporarily began providing free weekly access to credit reports early in the pandemic as fear of the virus led to government restrictions that ground parts of the economy to a near standstill. This week, they said they will continue to do so indefinitely.
The move makes permanent a big change in the level of visibility you have into your own credit reports, which lenders, landlords, insurers, and others use to evaluate your ability to pay your bills on time. Previously, the best strategy was to ration your credit reports, viewing one every four months. Beyond that, you had to pay as much as $14.50 for any additional credit reports (though the credit bureaus often charge more by bundling regular credit reports with additional features) or sign up for a credit monitoring service if you wanted to check your credit report in the meantime.
Here's why permanent weekly free credit reports are so important, and how you can access them.
Why are free credit reports important?
A credit report is a record of all your credit-related history. Compiled by the thee credit reporting agencies, these documents are also the base on which your credit score is calculated.
Keeping tabs on the information displayed on your credit reports is important when you're attempting to build credit. You can also monitor your credit reports for credit-damaging errors or instances of identity theft.
Sparse access to these reports before the pandemic made this a difficult task. In addition to those three free annual reports, you could only view them in certain situations outlined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. For example, if your credit application got denied, you are entitled to a free credit report from the same credit bureau your creditor used to deny your application.
Free weekly access to credit reports allowed consumers to keep track of their finances as COVID-19 roiled the economy. At the same time, consumers could keep an eye on their identity as reports of identity theft more than doubled, from just over 650,000 in 2019 to nearly 1.4 million in 2020.
How to request free weekly credit reports
Credit reports can be accessed through annualcreditreport.com or over the phone at 877-322-8228.
You will need to provide personal information such as your Social Security number, birth date, and current address. You'll select the credit bureaus you want credit reports from and confirm your identity with each credit bureau by answering several questions relating to information on your reports.
Once you've been granted access to your credit reports, scan them for information you don't recognize. You may find innocuous errors such as typos or more damaging errors like a delinquency or hard inquiry that should have already fallen off your credit report. These can be disputed with the credit bureaus or disputed using a credit repair company.
While one or two inconsistencies might be the result of a credit reporting error from the credit bureaus, entire unrecognized lines of credit on your credit report are a sign of something more sinister. If you come across a credit line you did not open, it's very likely that your identity has been stolen.
When you're done viewing your credit reports, be sure to either download or print the document in case you want to return to it. If you close out without downloading your credit reports, you won't be able to see them until they're available again.
Luckily, you'll only have to wait a week.