Free Credit Report if you do not have a Credit Card
Consumers often ask where they can get a copy of their credit report for free if they don’t have a credit card. The problem occurs because most companies you encounter on the Internet for a free credit report ask for your credit card eventually.
Usually they want your credit card because they hope you will eventually purchase products from them, and they want to make the purchase process simple. Even the site Congress designated for consumers to get their free annual credit report (annualcreditreport.com) will ask for your credit card, presumably because they will try to sell you a credit score or a credit monitoring service that is not part of your free annual credit report.
Other sites on the Internet may also ask for your credit card because your Free Credit Report may be packaged with a free trial to a credit monitoring service that you will need to cancel before the trial period ends or your credit card will be charged for the monitoring service.
Whatever the reason, if you don’t have a credit card, you can still get your free annual credit report by applying for it through the mail.
Here is a form to apply for your free credit report by mail:
Follow the instructions on the form and mail it in. It will take some time to get your credit report through the US Mail – usually the request is processed within fifteen days of receipt, and you receive your report a few weeks after that, so be patient.
You can also try getting your free credit report by applying for it over the phone. Call the phone number for annualcreditreport.com 1-877-322-8228.
In case you did not know it, annualcreditreport.com is the site that Congress designated for consumers to get a copy of their free annual credit report under the Federal law called the Fact Act. Annualcreditreport.com is a site operated and managed jointly by the 3 national credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian and Transunion. It may also be referred to as the Central Source.
