A curated, plain-English map for U.S. consumers who want to find official free credit reports, understand how that differs from “free scores,” and build a sensible habit of reviewing reports over time. This repository links to government and authorized sources first.
Educational only — not legal or financial advice. We do not rank products, sell monitoring, or guarantee outcomes.
| If you want to… | Open |
|---|---|
| Order free annual reports | AnnualCreditReport.com |
| Learn your rights in plain language | FTC — Free credit reports |
| Browse CFPB guides (read, dispute, freezes) | CFPB credit reports hub |
| Avoid mistakes before you download | Before you download checklist |
| Path | Description |
|---|---|
docs/official-free-report-starting-points.md |
What each official source is for |
docs/free-report-vs-free-score.md |
Reports vs scores — common confusion |
docs/how-often-to-review-reports.md |
Review cadence ideas (not rules) |
checklists/before-you-download-or-save-a-report.md |
Safety and privacy checklist |
data/report-source-map.json |
Machine-readable source map |
data/link-map.json |
Credit Plainly + official URLs |
- Free credit report basics
- Credit report vs credit score
- How to read a credit report
- How to check your credit score — scores are a separate topic from full reports
- Credit report terms glossary
- Read official starting points.
- Complete the before-you-download checklist.
- Order reports through AnnualCreditReport.com.
- Use how to read a credit report while reviewing.
- Set a reminder using how often to review.
- credit-report-error-checklist-kit — after you have a report PDF, review for errors
- identity-theft-credit-report-starter-kit — if unfamiliar accounts appear
- AnnualCreditReport.com — authorized free annual reports
- FTC — Free credit reports
- CFPB — Credit reports and scores
Educational purposes only. Not legal or financial advice. We do not guarantee investigation outcomes, score changes, or that every third-party “free score” offer includes a full report.
MIT — see LICENSE.
Maintained by Credit Plainly, an independent educational site about U.S. credit reports and scores.