How Can I See My Credit Report If I Do Not Have a Credit Card?

Sep 2009

How Can I See My Credit Report If I Do Not Have a Credit Card?

(Michael from Texas) How can I see my credit report if I do not have a credit card?

Dear Michael:

You do not need a credit card in order to obtain a copy of your credit report. In fact, you are entitled to one free credit report from each of the three main credit bureaus each year. This is courtesy of the annual credit report service that was mandated by Congress.

Congress ordered that these three credit bureaus must provide consumers with a free credit report annually. To honor this demand, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion each collaborate on AnnualCreditReport.com. This is the site where you may receive your free credit reports.

No Credit Card is Necessary

You do not need a credit card in order to obtain your free reports. Any service that requires it is looking to either charge you for the reports, for a monthly monitoring service or both. These are normally unnecessary expenses that can be avoided.

The credit reports that are free to obtain do not include a credit score. If you want to add a credit score, then you would need a credit card to pay for that. Adding a score normally costs around $8 through the annual credit report service, whereas the credit bureaus normally charge almost twice that if you order directly through them.

It is important to note that the FreeCreditReport.com service (not actually free since it requires a monthly subscription) is different from the AnnualCreditReport.com. Make sure that you are visiting AnnualCreditReport.com if you want your free reports without having to use a credit card.