Request by Internet: You may order your report online. The following link will take you to the site (click here). Or, you may type the following web address into your browser to go to the credit report site - https://www.annualcreditreport.com

IMPORTANT: The website shown above is the only official website for ordering free credit reports. Consumers may come across many unofficial and even scam websites. Any other site may result in you paying for a credit report, or may be a fraudulent site that is intended to trick consumers into revealing personal information that can result in identity theft. Be sure you are going to the only official website, which is shown above.

There will also be many scam e-mail offers. Do not link to a site that is sent to you via e-mail. Do not respond to any e-mail request for information that will allow you to order a free credit report. The credit bureaus will not send any e-mail asking for information.

Request by Telephone: 877-322-8228 This is a toll-free number.

Request by Mail:
Annual Credit Request Service
PO Box105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281

To order by mail, you will need to obtain and complete a credit report request form.

Do not contact the three credit reporting bureaus individually to request your free annual credit report. Only the centralized source is being used for free this service.

Ordering Multiple Reports
If you wish to obtain a credit report from each of the three bureaus, you will need to submit a separate request for each. You cannot do them all at the same time. The law allows you to order one free credit report from each bureau once a year. A period of 12 months must elapse between your requests. Consumers are encouraged to order reports from all three because they may contain different information.

It is your decision if you wish to order all three reports at the same time or stagger them out over a period of time. You may wish to stagger the reports out during the 12-month period. By doing this, you can keep an eye on the information in your reports more frequently. There may be variances among the three bureaus, but most of the information is likely to be the same.

Information You Will Need to Provide
You will have to provide certain personal information in order to request a credit report. This information will include: name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth. If you have moved in the last two years, you may have to provide your previous address.

To maintain security of your file, you may also be asked to provide some information that only you would be likely to know, such as the amount of your monthly mortgage payment or some other item of information. Depending on your situation, other information could be requested to help verify your identity. The questions asked are continually varied so this can be a bit tricky. You may need to have your various credit account information at hand.

Again, do not respond to any e-mail request for information, and do not click on any site in an e-mail claiming to be from the free credit report service. Information will not be requested in this way and any e-mail request may be a scam. Also, the credit reporting bureaus will not call you to request information.

Expect Your Report Within 15 Days
If you request your report online at the centralized website, you should be able to access it immediately. If you order your report by phone or by mail, your request should be processed and mailed to you within 15 days of receipt of your request.

Your request could take longer if additional information is required in order to verify your identity. People who have moved frequently or had name changes are likely to have to provide additional information. Other individual circumstances may require additional information.

It is also possible that the centralized source may become overwhelmed with a volume of requests. Should this happen, you may be asked to re-submit your request, or you may be told that you report will be mailed to you sometime after the normal15 days.

Know What Is on Your Credit Report
Free annual access to your credit report can be a valuable resource. Your credit report contains a great deal of information about where you live, where you work, how you have paid your bills (late payments, collections, charge offs), if you have been sued, if you have filed bankruptcy.

The credit bureaus sell the information in your report to creditors, insurers, employers and other businesses that use it to evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, employment, or renting.

Errors on your report can affect you a great deal.

Also, identity theft is a growing problem. Reviewing the information on your credit report may help you discover if someone has opened a credit account using your name and other identifying information.

Credit Score Not Provided
Your free annual credit report will not include your credit score. In most simple terms, a credit score is a three digit number that summarizes and calculates a great deal of information from your credit report to create a score that is an overall indicator of creditworthiness. A credit score is used by most lenders as an important indicator of relative credit risk of an individual. It can affect whether or not a loan will be approved and the rate of interest that will be charged on the loan.

The FACT Act that mandates providing consumers a free annual credit report does not require that a credit score be included with the report. If you want to know your credit score, you will have to purchase a separate report that includes your credit score.

Correcting Report Errors
Both the credit bureau and the information provider are responsible for correcting any inaccurate or incomplete information in your credit report. You should contact both the credit bureau and the information provider if you discover errors in your credit report. (The information provider is the financial institution or other person or company that provides information about you to the credit bureau).

Credit Bureau: Tell the credit bureau in writing what information you believe is inaccurate. Errors cannot be corrected by telephone contact. The address for writing to the bureau will be on your credit report. Or you can initially contact the bureau by telephone or through its website:

Equifax
800-685-1111
www.equifax.com

Experian
888-397-3742
www.experian.com

TransUnion
800-916-8800
www.transunion.com

Do not use these phone numbers or websites to request your free annual credit report. Only the centralized source can be used for that purpose.

The credit bureaus must investigate any items in question, usually within 30 days, unless they consider your dispute to be frivolous. They must also forward all of the relevant data you provide about an inaccuracy to the organization that provided the information.

After the information provider receives notice of a dispute from the credit bureau, it must investigate and report the results back to the credit bureau. If the information provider finds the disputed information is inaccurate, it must notify all three major credit bureaus so they can correct the information in your file.

When the investigation is complete, the credit bureau must give you the written results and a free copy of your report if the dispute results in a change. (This free report does not count against your free annual credit report.) If an item is changed or deleted, the credit bureau cannot put the disputed information back in your file unless the information provider verifies that it is accurate and complete. The credit bureau also must send you written notice that includes the name, address and phone number of the information provider.

Information Provider: At the same time you are contacting the credit bureau, information the information provider in writing that you dispute an item of information that they have provided.

If the provider reports the item to a credit bureau, it must include a notice of your dispute. If you are correct that there is an information error, the information provider may not report it to a credit bureau again.

Unresolved Disputes
It is possible that an investigation will not resolved your dispute over credit report information. If information is not changed, you can request that a statement of the dispute be included in your credit file and in future credit reports. You also can ask that the credit bureau provide your statement to anyone who received a copy of your report in the recent past (you will have to pay a fee for this).

If you tell the information provider that you still dispute an item, a notice of your dispute must be included any time the information provider reports that item to a credit bureau.

Dealing With Identity Theft
If you discover information on your credit report that suggests a case of identity theft, additional steps are needed. Proceed with providing dispute information to the credit bureau and to the information provider.

Contact the fraud department of the credit bureau to report a case of suspected identity theft and to file a fraud alert. Do this in addition to reporting inaccurate information on your credit report. This will help take it out of the realm of a routine dispute investigation.

Contact the information provider to specifically report a possible case of identity theft.

Close the account(s) that you know or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently. Use the ID Theft Affidavit when disputing new unauthorized accounts.

File a police report. Get a copy of the police report to submit to your creditors and others that may require proof that a crime may have been committed.

File a report of the suspected identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission. You can do this at www.consumer.gov/idtheft. This is a special website of the FTC for dealing with issues of identity theft. You will need to file an ID Theft Affidavit. This website contains additional information that you will need.