Free Credit Reports for a Year

You can now look at your credit report for free every week by going to www.AnnualCreditReport.com. The three national credit reporting agencies – Experian, Trans Union and Equifax – have announced that you can now have access to your credit report from each of the three bureaus for free every week until April 2021.

What Am I Looking for In my Free Credit Report?

•Always look to see if there is anything that does not belong to you on your reports. This includes signs of identity theft – names which you have never used; variations in your social security number (for example XXX-XX-1234, when your number is XXX-XX2143); addresses at which you have never resided; credit card or other accounts you never opened; and credit inquiries from banks you don’t have accounts with.

•Look to make sure that your creditors are reporting your accounts correctly. If you have received an extension to make your payment from your mortgage company or other lender due to a COVID-19 hardship, make sure your lenders are not reporting your account delinquent. This needs to be monitored on at least a monthly basis.

•Look for any other information which you know or believe is not correct. Go through your report line by line to make sure that none of your creditors are reporting negative information which is incorrect or inaccurate.