A Review of FreeCreditReport.com

Credit report form on a desk
Photo: courtneyk / Getty Images

If you're looking for a free credit report, you might have considered visiting freecreditreport.com, since it does have "free" in the title. Several years ago, you could have gotten a free credit report through this site, but consumer credit laws have changed.

The U.S. government's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has sanctioned only one website, AnnualCreditReport.com, as the "official" site to offer a free credit report once per year to U.S. citizens. Consequently, the freecreditreport.com site and many other free credit report websites began offering credit reports for the nominal price of $1.

Note

You can get one free credit report per week from Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian through December 2023 at AnnualCreditReport.com.

"Almost Free" Credit Report

If you choose to get your credit report, including a FICO score from the site, freecreditreport.com will charge your credit card $1. Both the report and score come from your data reported to Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus.

The report has an easy-to-read layout, with each of the credit report sections on a separate tab. If you sign up for the site, review your credit report for accuracy, and check for anything out of the ordinary. Your FICO score will help you gauge your creditworthiness.

Site Features

The freecreditreport.com site provides you with detailed information on your payment history, amount of debt, length of credit history, and any recent credit inquiries. Each category shows what's impacting your credit score.

There's a Catch

To receive your $1 credit report and credit score from freecreditreport.com, you have to sign up for a seven-day trial subscription to Experian CreditWorks Premium, a monitoring service offered by Experian. To subscribe to the service and pay for your credit report, you're required to enter your credit card information into freecreditreport.com.

If you forget to cancel during the trial, your credit card will be automatically charged $24.99 for each month of the service. Per the freecreditreport.com FAQs, there's no refund or partial credit if you cancel once you've been charged.

Freecreditreport.com gives you fair notice that your credit card will be charged if you don't cancel your trial subscription. There's a disclosure about the trial printed plainly on the first page of the website and another one on the order-submission form.

Freecreditreport.com allows you to order a $1 credit report from it just once. If you've already received your $1 credit report, you won't get another one, ever.

Cancelling Is a Minor Headache

To cancel the freecreditreport.com service, you have two options: contact the company by phone, or send your cancellation request by mail. The company's website doesn't offer the ability to cancel online. If you cancel over the phone, expect the customer service representative to read through some scripts in an attempt to convince you to continue your service.

Call with your mind set on canceling the service, and stick to your "No," regardless of what they offer you. The phone rep may offer you a large discount on your next month's payment if you keep the account, which could make sense if you want to keep the account open for credit monitoring. If you choose to cancel, you'll receive a confirmation email after you make the call.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What's the difference between freecreditreport.com and freecreditscore.com?

Freecreditreport.com and freecreditscore.com are very similar websites. They're both owned by Experian. They both offer access to your Experian credit report and a FICO score based on that report.

How do you dispute information on your credit report?

The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives everyone in the U.S. the right to an accurate credit report. If there are mistakes on your report that you want to dispute, all you have to do is reach out to the credit bureaus. You can call, dispute the information online, or dispute it in writing with a mailed letter. Credit bureaus are legally required to investigate any disputes unless they are "frivolous," but they won't remove accurate information from your credit report.

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Sources
The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. PR Newswire. "Equifax, Experian and TransUnion Extend Free Weekly Credit Reports in the U.S. Through 2023."

  2. freecreditreport.com. "Terms of Use Agreement."

  3. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act," Pages 1-2.

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