Need a free credit report but don’t want to enter your credit card information to get it? There are a few options, all worth trying out, to gain access your credit report online without being required to enter your credit card information first…
AnnualCreditReport.com – All 3 Credit Reports Once Per Year
www.annualcreditreport.com is the official, government mandated site for accessing your free annual credit report. Now all US residents are eligible to view their credit report from all 3 of the credit reporting companies – Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.
At annualcreditreport.com, you are not required to enter your credit card information to view your credit reports, and no trial membership is involved either. The site is designed to give every US resident free and easy access to their credit report from all 3 agencies, once per year, from a central source. All you have to do is enter your personal information to confirm your identity, then they will lead you through the process of viewing all 3 of your credit reports. Easy squeezy!
Viewing Your Credit Score for Free
While accessing your credit reports is completely free at annualcreditreport.com – your credit score is not included with the annual credit report offer, and will cost extra from each of the “big 3″ reporting companies.
After you have viewed all 3 of your credit reports from that site, and you still want a free credit score, I suggest signing up for for a free credit score trial membership which includes your credit score with a free trial.
With your free credit monitoring trial, your credit card information is needed to sign up, but the bonus is you can view your credit score, absolutely free.
You won’t be charged any up front fees, you will only be charged a small monthly free (such as $14.95/month), if you don’t cancel the credit monitoring service before your free trial is up. If you don’t like the service they provide, just call and cancel it. You will not be charged anything, and you still walk away with your Free Credit Score just for giving it a try. Not bad eh?
We have more detailed information on these offers within our free credit score reviews section – read more about those here.
A couple other free credit report and score options…
Quizzle.com – Free Experian Report and Score
With Quizzle, your membership is always free, no credit card needed. Upon sign-up, you will receive your actual free Experian credit report, along with your Experian credit score. With this one, even though it is free, be ready to see plenty of ads for various things such as credit monitoring services (not in an annoying way though, off to the side mostly). Considering this service is 100% free for life, it’s worth it!
Quizzle also provides tools and tips on improving your credit score, as well as credit score tracking feature which is especially useful if you are trying to raise your score to a certain level. Not only do they help you with your credit, but also your money and budget too. Check out Quizzle, you won’t regret it.
CreditKarma.com – Free Credit Score and Report Card
With your 100% free Credit Karma membership (no credit card needed), you get what they call a “credit report card”, not an actual credit report, but they will access your credit report on your behalf, and give you letter grades on different areas of your report, to let you know how you are doing and what you might need to improve on. This can be useful after you have access your reports from AnnualCreditReport.com and need more info how what everything means and what you need to do to improve your credit.
The huge advantage to Credit Karma is that they also provide you with your credit score at no charge. Many services will require you to enroll in their credit monitoring service, Credit Karma does not, it’s always free. Just be ready to be presented with many ads such as credit card offers and credit monitoring services (they have bills to pay too).
Why not try all these recommendations…
I recommend trying all these services. Obviously with the first one there is no credit card needed and is the only source where you you get all 3 credit reports completely free (annualcreditreport.com), but it does not include your free credit score.
The free trial credit score services do require you to enter your credit card information for your free credit scores, but those do include your free credit score, credit monitoring, ID theft protection and more. Each have their advantages and all are exceptional services.
I got my 3 reports from annualcreditreport.com, signed up for all these services, plus one of the free trial services called Identity Guard. When I signed up with the free trial service, I planned on canceling shortly after, but now I’m checking out all the features it has and I may keep it!
Wow,
What a great resource you have here. I signed up for the Identity Guard offer and found all the features to be very helpful. Thanks for such a great comparison site.
Great Great sources …Got two of the three cerdit scores for free. Detail giving is accurate … Thanx a bunch I should pay you for your research God bless!!
I dont know what everybody is so happy about. these must be employees of these companies cause I have tried for years to get a free credit report and the only thing they ever ask for is membership or a credit card number. well, look here, i don’t have a credit card. i cant even find out what is on my report so that i can get my credit in order to even get a credit card. not everyone is raised with a silver spoon in there mouths. for some of us it is hard as hell to get anything. should i give up? i don’t know, but as far as this “free credit report” goes, all of the american government can kiss my ass. i hate liars.
Rose, I assure you that annualcreditreport.com is the real thing, and at that site, you will never need to a credit card to view your credit reports. Watch out for imitations though, there are many other sites trying to look like the real annualcreditreport.com, when all they are really trying to do is get you signed up for their service which comes along with a monthly fee.
Be sure that when looking for your free annual credit report, that the URL (website address) you are at exactly matches annualcreditreport.com, and keep in mind that the real federally mandated annual credit report website will never ask for your credit card information. The credit bureaus will try to upsell you while viewing your credit reports, but if you decline their offers they will not ask for your credit card info either.
And never give up trying to build a good solid credit history. I know it must seem like it now, but once you get on the right path, it’s really not that difficult.
rose go to creditkarma.com…..I am like you and many others, I dont think paying to know what my credit report is worth it. I was watching the news and they had mention this website. My husband and I now know what are credit score is and what out standing balances we have left. I suggest you try it. From what I know this seems to be the only that was 100% free with no credit card.
Rose,
Those sites do give free info. I use creditkarma and quizzle all the time. I have never given cc information. There are ads on the sites but you done have to do the other features. I also use annualcreditreport. Legally you are allowed your report once a year free. Just try it. If you think you see anything asking for a card. Just back out. But I know you wont
No I am not an employee of any of those companies. I work for motorola. Not any website
Thank you so much for the Quizzle reference! I needed my three free credit reports for my bk. Experian wouldn’t let me give it to me free online. I had to call and they told me it would be 15 days to three weeks in the mail. Thank you, again. Quizzle looks like something I need when I get through this mess.
As Americans we are entitled to a free credit score without the strings. Are the credit bureaus exempt to the BBB?
Brent, as mentioned above there are numerous ways to receive your free credit score. In addition to the resources listed above, lenders are now required to show you your score if you are either rejected for a loan, or are approved for a loan but with a higher interest rate than provided to their best customers. They are also required to explain the reason for the rejection or higher rate.
In a perfect world our FICO scores would be 100% free at all times, but in reality they have to turn a profit just like any other company needs to do, so we have to take what we can get. Check out http://www.creditkarma.com if you’re looking for a no strings credit score. The one they provide is not your actual FICO score, but it’s a good approximation if you don’t want to pay for the real thing.
I remember years ago I got my annual free credit report from a gov. backed website, not a .com. Also, can I call the companies and request they send me my report for free?
Kim, Absolutely, you can call annualcreditreport.com toll free at 1-877-322-8228. Keep in mind even though it is a .com website address, rest assured it is the real government mandated website for free annual credit reports. I use it every year and haven’t paid a dime. As you view your report from each credit bureau, they will of course want you to upgrade and buy your credit scores, but I always decline this because I’m a member of a few different credit monitoring services which provide my credit score.
The annualcreditreport.com is a legit free website for obtaining your credit report . . . all three of them completely free once each year. I have used the site twice now and have had no problems getting my credit reports.
How do you get around the security quesstions? I guess someone took out a loan in my name and I dont know how much for. I called the company of all but they wouldnt give me any information because I couldnt match the phone number. Im pissed and this is really destroying my credit. I dont want to pay a professional company hundreds of dollars to fix my credit.
Tony, I would recommend checking your credit report ASAP to search for suspicious activity. Check out this page for more info: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/consumers/detect.html
Tony, Those are trick questions. They know u didnt have that line of credit & look for you to answer accordingly. Happened to me recently when applying for new checking acct. The bank explained to me that is a new security question method. Scared me too. Try again..
As noted above, it was a huge problem trying to order on line. Call the numbeer mentioned above and you will get quick and excellent service, even though it is a robot it is clear and accurate. (1 877-322-8228. Don’t even bother with on line; just a a pain in the neck!
Mary J Brown, thanks for your comment. Even though I have never had a problem with ordering my reports online, it seems that some people do, so calling is a good option if something goes wrong while trying to access your reports online.
I would like to say that from my experience with annualcreditreport.com I had great results. I received my FREE credit reports with no problems. But I need to ask. Is there a possibility to receive just my credit score without the whole credit report? Plus, can I receive it for free?
Jessie, you can certainly receive just your credit score, but not from annualcreditreport.com. For your free score you will need to visit sites like creditkarma.com or quizzle.com, both are free with no credit card needed and no trial memberships. Also, freecreditscore.com is also a great option, you can sign up for a free trial, for this you will need to enter your CC info, but you can cancel if you don’t like the service, and pay nothing. I am a member of all 3 services and they all have their advantages and disadvantages, you should definitely check them out!
Credit sesame is another free credit score site. Maybe a little inflated though.
just wanted to say that i just got my free annualcreditreport.com no strings attached, i did however pay $7.95 to get a credit score from one of the agencies, my choice though dont have to to get credit report, also checked out quizzle and credit karma look like pretty good sights and something i am interested in doing so my question is this which one of those sights are better for helping someone raise their credit score or is there another sight not listed that is better. i am looking to buy a home in the near future but really need help raising my score first yes i have bad credit now but looking to improve. Please help
Randy, I have personally found freecreditscore.com to be a great option when trying to get all the tips and help you need to monitoring and improving your score, but it does cost a small monthly fee after your free trial. If you are looking for completely free solutions, credit karma and quizzle are both great options, but I personally like creditkarma.com best out of the two. I would recommend them out yourself and see which one might fit your needs best. Good luck!