Gephardt: Free, Weekly Credit Reports A Can’t Miss Pandemic Deal

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Consumers have seen remarkable deals and remarkable price gouging during the pandemic, but there is one discount they may not have noticed, and it may be one of the most important for their financial well-being.

“I knew you could get a free credit report every once in a while, but I didn’t realize that you could go and do it every week,” said Kyle James, an expert bargain hunter who has run the website, Rather-Be-Shopping.com, for over a decade.

Like many Americans, James said he missed the major announcement from the three bureaus – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – saying each will now allow consumers to pull their credit reports once-a-week, for free. 

Before the pandemic, the Fair Credit Reporting Act mandated the nationwide credit reporting agencies to provide people with a free copy of their credit report at their request — but only once every 12 months, not each week. 

Few numbers have a bigger impact on our lives than our credit score. A bad score can keep consumers from being able to get a place to live, a reliable car or even finance a new furnace in the dead of winter. A good score gets them lower interest rates on loans and credit cards, better insurance rates, and in many cases, will help you avoid security deposits on utilities and other services. 

James saw this new move by the credit agencies as a great opportunity for consumers to not only keep their credit reports clean and error-free, but also maybe to give their scores a shot in the arm. 

“This is kind of a great way to not only monitor your credit, but to try and build your credit up, and you can see immediately what things are working and what’s not working,” he said. 

Despite what the URL reads, you can pull your weekly, free credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com.

Again, the three major bureaus are offering this deal through April 2021.