Step 1
Get your official reports
Before you dispute anything, you need to see exactly what each credit bureau is reporting. Get all three. The bureaus do not share files, so an error on one is often absent from the others — and which bureaus carry the error matters.
AnnualCreditReport.com
This is the website authorized by federal law for free credit reports, and it is the one the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau directs consumers to. It is operated by the three nationwide credit reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — not by us.
This link takes you off Credit File Corrections. We have no relationship with AnnualCreditReport.com, receive nothing if you use it, and cannot see anything you do there. You can also order by phone at (877) 322-8228.
How often you can get them free
Federal law gives you the right to one free copy of your file from each nationwide credit reporting agency once during any 12-month period. Separately from that statutory minimum, the three bureaus currently offer free reports through AnnualCreditReport.com on a weekly basis — an expansion that began during the COVID-19 pandemic and that the CFPB describes as still available. Because that weekly access is voluntary rather than statutory, it can change; the once-per-12-months right cannot.
You can also get a free report in specific situations, including:
- Within 60 days after you receive notice that a company took adverse action against you — a denial, for instance — based on your report.
- Once a year if you certify in writing that you are unemployed and seeking work within 60 days, that you receive public welfare assistance, or that you believe your file contains inaccurate information because of fraud.
What to do once you have them
Save all three as PDFs
Save each report the day you pull it and name the file with the bureau and the date. The version of the report that showed the error is evidence, and it is gone once the bureau updates it.
Read every section, not just the accounts
Personal information, accounts, collections, public records, and inquiries. A wrong name, a wrong address, or a Social Security number that is not yours is often the first sign that another person's information has been mixed into your file.
Write down what is wrong and what is true
For each problem: which bureau shows it, which company reported it, what the report says, and what the accurate information is. That is the raw material for every letter you will send.
Do you need paid monitoring?
No. Everything on this site works without it, and the free reports above are enough to find and dispute an error. Monitoring is useful for a different job — being told quickly when something new shows up.What monitoring does and does not do →
Sources
- 15 U.S.C. § 1681j(a)(1)(A), (b), (c) — free file disclosures.uscode.house.gov
- CFPB, "How do I get a free copy of my credit reports?"consumerfinance.gov
- CFPB, "When should I review my credit report?" (weekly availability)consumerfinance.gov
Sources verified August 4, 2026.