Free weekly credit reports available online until April
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — are now offering free weekly online credit reports through April 2021. The weekly free reports can be ordered online at the only official website: AnnualCreditReport. com.
The free weekly credit report offer is only available when ordering online. If you would rather order your free credit reports through the mail or by phone toll free at (877) 322-8228, federal law still gives you the right to request three free credit reports each year—one each from the three credit bureaus. Individuals who have an Individual Taxpayer Identifi cation Number (ITIN) instead of a Social Security number must order a free report through the mail.
The University of Wisconsin-Extension’s “Check Your Free Credit Report: 2/2, 6/6, 10/10” campaign seeks to make the process of remembering to order a free credit report as easy as possible.
Anyone can sign up to receive an email reminder from UW-Extension three times a year—on Feb. 2, June 6 and Oct. 10 — on the campaign’s website: fyi. extension.wisc.edu/creditreport.While you can order all three reports at the same time, checking your free reports throughout the year helps you make sure that the information is up-to-date and accurate year-round. “There are loads of reasons why we may not keep up with monitoring our own credit, especially these days,” says Peggy Olive, UW-Madison Financial Capability Specialist. “Life is busy enough with everyday responsibilities. Our credit report reminder campaign seeks to make managing your credit history that much easier.”
Some people may be thinking about their credit report and credit history, but are hesitant to order their free report because they are afraid of what they might find. A credit report could include information about late payments, collection accounts, and public financial records, such as a bankruptcy. This kind of negative information can stay on a credit report for seven to 10 years.
Not all negative information is treated the same, with more serious events pulling down a credit score. A 30-day late payment on a credit card will lower your credit score, for example, but not as much as a 60 or 90 day late payment. On the plus side, as the negative event gets older, it will lower your score less and less over the years. Making on-time payments in the future will start to add positive information to your credit history and increase your score.
