The one official site
There is exactly one website the federal government set up for your free reports, and it is AnnualCreditReport.com. It gives you reports from all three major bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Sites with similar names, or ads promising a free score if you enter a card number, are not the official source and often sign you up for paid monitoring.
Since 2023 the three bureaus made free weekly reports permanent. That means you no longer have to ration one report per bureau per year. You can check any of the three as often as once a week, which is a real tool for catching errors and signs of fraud early.
Pulling your own report is called a soft inquiry. It never lowers your score, no matter how many times you look. Checking your own file is always safe, so make it a habit rather than a once-a-year event.
Report is not the same as score
Your credit report is the detailed history: your accounts, balances, payment record, inquiries, and any collections or public records. Your score is a three-digit number a model like FICO or VantageScore calculates from that history. The free government site gives you the report, not the score.
That distinction matters because the report is where mistakes live. A score can only be as accurate as the data behind it, so reading the report tells you why your number is where it is. If you want the number too, many banks and card apps now show a free FICO or VantageScore score on your statement.
How to read it line by line
Start with the identity section: your name, addresses, and employers. Then check each account. For every one, confirm the balance, the credit limit, the open date, and especially the payment history, which is usually shown month by month. A single account marked late that you actually paid on time can cost you points.
Next look at the inquiries section. Hard inquiries from applications you recognize are normal. An inquiry from a lender you never contacted can be an early sign someone is using your information. Finally, review collections and public records, since these carry the most weight and are the most important to verify.
The three reports will not be identical. Lenders do not always report to all three bureaus, so an account may appear on one and not another. That is normal, but it is also why checking all three beats checking just one.
When you spot an error
If something is genuinely inaccurate, the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to dispute it directly with the bureau, for free, and you file the dispute yourself. The bureau then has to investigate, usually within about 30 days, and verify the item with whoever reported it.
Gather your proof first: a statement, a cancelled check, a payoff letter, whatever shows the truth. Disputes work only on information that is actually wrong, incomplete, or cannot be verified. Accurate negative information stays until it ages off on its own, and no one can make a true, verifiable item disappear.
Build a simple checking routine
A practical rhythm is to rotate: pull one bureau every few weeks so you are seeing fresh data across all three over time, or pull all three before any big application like a car loan or a mortgage. Right before you apply is when accuracy matters most.
Consider adding a free credit freeze at each bureau if you are not applying for anything soon. A freeze blocks new accounts from being opened in your name and is free to place and lift. It is one of the strongest, cheapest protections against identity theft.
Reading your reports is the first real step toward getting mortgage-ready, and Subefy puts three-bureau monitoring, plain-language explanations, and free self-serve dispute guidance in one place so you always know what your file says. Estimates are educational, results vary, and no specific result is guaranteed.