"Free" Credit Reports Aren't Free

If you try to get a free credit report, you'll get lots of help. Search the web for "free credit reports" and you'll get a ton of results promising what you want. Even the domain names can tempt you -- such as freecreditreport.com, among others. Unfortunately, you're usually not getting the best deal.

The US Government makes free credit reports available to all consumers already, and you should start with the reports available under the government program (available at annualcreditreport.com). If you need credit monitoring or any services above and beyond a free credit report each year, then you might look towards these other sites. However, you don't even need to do that -- you'll get offers through your activities at annualcreditreport.com. To hear more on this topic, listen to the Future Tense podcast from American Public Media.

Further reading:

• How to View Your Free Credit Reports
• How to Build Credit