Ordering your free credit report

Until recently, residents of most states in the U.S. usually had to pay to obtain a copy of their credit report. Now that the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act — better known as the FACT Act — is in effect, that’s changed. The law gives every consumer the right to request a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion — once a year.

To obtain your free reports, you have to request them through the Annual Credit Report Request Service online at www.annualcreditreport.com or by phone at 877-322-8228. If you request your credit report directly through one of the three credit reporting agencies or through another service, you’ll pay a fee unless you’ve recently been denied credit, are unemployed, on public assistance, or have reason to suspect fraud.

Credit monitoring

All of the major credit reporting agencies (CRAs) offer credit monitoring services for a fee. They promise to contact you whenever there is any activity on your credit report, including inquiries from creditors or a change in your credit status. Many consumer advocates discourage the use of these costly services: The best way to keep an eye on your credit, they say, is by checking your report regularly. You can also place a fraud alert on your credit file with each of the agencies, requesting creditors to contact you before issuing credit. You can get a temporary fraud alert — lasting a few months — by phone. Or you can request a 7-year fraud alert by writing to each of the CRAs. You can contact each of the CRAs for details.