Does the Free Yearly Credit Report Give You Everything?

Reader Question: Does the free yearly credit report give you everything that is in your credit report?

Yes, because they are one and the same.

By law, you are entitled to one free credit report per year, from each of the three reporting agencies that collect and distribute that information. Keep in mind there are three reports produced by three different companies (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax), so if you want to conduct a truly comprehensive review of your credit situation, you need to get all three documents.

Fortunately, you can request all three of them at once by visiting the official website for this purpose -- AnnualCreditReport.com. This website is jointly owned the three companies mentioned above, and it's the only one recommended by the federal government (specifically, the FTC).

This is what the website looks like, at least when I took this screenshot earlier this morning. Look for the button that says "Request Report" and follow the instructions provided.

Image: Where to get your annual credit report for no charge.

The next question most people have after they obtain their information is, "How do I read it?" In other words, what am I looking for as I sort through the documentation? We have an answer to that question too, and you can find it below.

If you find any errors within these documents, you can dispute it through the company that produced that particular report. It's possible to have an error on one of your reports but not on the other two, because the data doesn't always agree among these three companies. So when you find what you feel is a mistake, you must dispute it through the right company. All of the credit reporting agencies have a "disputes" section of their websites for this very purpose.

Related Q&A Sessions:

• Common questions about the free yearly credit report
• How to read and review your reports for accuracy
  

Hope that helps you out. Happy holidays.