Your credit report is the underlying record your credit score is built from — a full history of your credit accounts, payment history, and public records. Checking it regularly is one of the simplest, free habits you can build to catch problems before they cost you money.

Where to get your free credit report

The only site authorized by federal law to provide your free credit reports is AnnualCreditReport.com. It's run jointly by Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Be cautious of similarly named sites that charge fees or try to upsell credit monitoring products — this one is genuinely free.

How often can you check?

U.S. consumers are entitled to a free report from each of the three bureaus once every 12 months through AnnualCreditReport.com — and currently, weekly free reports remain available from all three bureaus as well.

A smart way to space out your checks

Instead of requesting all three reports at once and then waiting a full year, consider staggering them — one bureau every four months. This way you have a fresh look at your credit file roughly every four months throughout the year, at no cost.

5 things to check every time

  1. Personal information — make sure your name, address, and Social Security number are correct and that you don't see an unfamiliar address, which can signal identity mix-ups.
  2. Accounts you don't recognize — a sign of potential identity theft.
  3. Payment history accuracy — confirm any late payments actually happened and are correctly dated.
  4. Account balances and credit limits — verify they match your own records, since errors here affect your utilization ratio.
  5. Hard inquiries — check that every listed inquiry corresponds to something you actually applied for.

What to do if you find a problem

If you spot an error, you have the right to formally dispute it with the bureau reporting it — a free process that typically resolves within 30 days. See our full guide on how to dispute a credit report error for the exact steps.

Your credit report vs. your credit score

A credit report and a credit score are different things. The report is the underlying data; the score is a number calculated from it. AnnualCreditReport.com provides the report — for your score, many banks and card issuers now provide it for free in their app.