Annual Credit Report

The Annual Credit Report is a free disclosure of the information that a nationwide consumer reporting company holds in a consumer's file. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the three nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — must provide a free file disclosure to a consumer upon request once every twelve months. AnnualCreditReport.com is the centralized website authorized by federal law for requesting those disclosures. It is not a combined report from all three companies, and it is not the same thing as a credit score. Each Annual Credit Report comes from one consumer reporting company and reflects the data that company has recorded at the time of the request. A file disclosure typically includes identifying information, such as names and addresses reported by creditors; account histories, including payment patterns and balances; inquiries made by lenders or other parties; collection accounts; and public-record information such as bankruptcies. Because creditors and other furnishers may report to one, two, or all of the nationwide consumer reporting companies, the information in one company's file disclosure can differ from what appears in another's. The disclosure also explains how to dispute information that a consumer believes is inaccurate or incomplete. The Annual Credit Report is distinct from credit scores and from many commercial credit-monitoring products. A file disclosure is a record of what is reported, while a credit score is a numerical summary calculated from information in a credit file. The federally authorized site does not require a purchase to obtain the disclosures required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Other websites that advertise free credit reports may have different terms, may enroll users in subscription products, or may present reports from a single company. Consumers can request their file disclosures directly through AnnualCreditReport.com or by using the contact information that the nationwide consumer reporting companies provide for file-disclosure requests. The frequency of free file disclosures has been adjusted at times by the nationwide consumer reporting companies, and the statutory baseline remains a free disclosure every twelve months. The Annual Credit Report can be requested for each of the three nationwide companies separately, and consumers may request reports for themselves. Requesting the disclosure is a consumer-initiated review rather than a lender inquiry, so it is not treated as an application for credit. The disclosure is intended to show what is in a file so that consumers can review it for accuracy; it is not a statement of creditworthiness, an approval, or a recommendation about any financial product.

A consumer who wants to see what Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion each have in their file can request an Annual Credit Report from each company through AnnualCreditReport.com.