How to Avoid Free Credit Report Scams

You may have heard of your right to get a free credit report each year. So have scammers who'd like nothing more than to trick you out of your money, your personal information, or both. Here are some tips for avoiding a scam when you're trying to order your free credit report.

Your Right to a Free Credit Report

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 gives consumers the right to get a free credit report every year from each of the three credit bureaus. That means, every year, you can get one free credit report from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion for a total of three free credit reports.
The FTC partnered with the credit bureaus to offer a simple, centralized way for consumers to get these credit reports through annualcreditreport.com. However, imposter sites confuse consumers and trick them into paying for their free credit reports.

Scams

One of the most well-known imposter sites is freecreditreport.com. The site's name itself hints that the site offers free credit reports. However, the credit report you get through freecreditreport.com isn't completely free. There are some strings attached, and if you're not careful, you can end up paying to access your credit report.To get your "free" credit report from freecreditreport.com, you have to sign up for a trial subscription to a credit monitoring service. Signing up for the trial requires your credit card number. If you forget to cancel the subscription before the trial period ends, your credit card will be charged, and you've just paid for that free credit report.
Worse, your credit card will be charged each month until you cancel the subscription. If you're not watching your credit card statement closely, you can end up being charged for months before you realize it's been have been scammed.

In 2005, the World Privacy Forum found 233 free credit report imposter sites, many of which included affiliate links to one of the three credit bureaus. None of the imposters had links to the real site for free credit reports.