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How to check your credit report for FREE
Grab your file and check your score for free
Updated 19 April 2021
Checking your credit report is in good shape is important if you want to get a mortgage, credit card, loan and much more. The big credit reference agencies try to lure you in with free month-long trials followed by paid subscriptions, but there's no real need to pay at all. Here's how to check your credit report for free, plus how MSE's Credit Club works.
1-min read: How to check your credit report for FREE
You can easily check your credit report – and it's totally free. Here's a quick lowdown if you know what you're doing and just want to get on with it. Alternatively, read our How to check your credit score for free guide below or check out our Credit Score guide for tips on how to improve your score.
There are three credit agencies which hold credit reports on you: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion (formerly Callcredit). It's best to check all three reports once a year, because they all have an impact. Here are our quick and FREE ways to do so:
- Experian – use MSE Credit Club, which offers full access to your Experian credit report for free anytime.
- Equifax – use Clearscore*, which provides free access to your Equifax report.
- TransUnion – use Credit Karma, which gives you free access to your TransUnion report.
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Why and what you should check
There are three credit reference agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and they all hold information on you which lenders use. Even small errors can cause problems, so it's important you check through your credit report. Most of this is explained in detail in our How to Boost Your Credit Scores guide, but below is a quick checklist:
- Check addresses on old accounts.
- Fight unfair defaults on your file.
- Ensure you financially de-link (ie, separate) if you no longer have joint accounts with someone.
- Rejected? Always check your credit reports after rejection.
- Cancel unused credit and store cards. Find out why unused cards can count against you.
Should I check all three credit reports?
If you're doing a specific application for a company and you know which credit reference agency it uses, it's obviously a priority to check that one. But as a general housekeeping rule we suggest you check all three credit reports at least once a year, because they all have an impact.
Don't worry about over-checking your credit report. Your checks aren't recorded on the report, and it's something that only you and the credit reference agency will know about. Check EVERY detail and do it regularly. PLUS always check before making any big applications to minimise your risk of rejection.
However, if time is short and you can only use one, choose Experian (the biggest) or use CheckMyFile's free trial to check all three.
In the first instance, it's useful to know that Experian, Equifax and TransUnion each offer a free basic report, known as a statutory credit report. This includes basic info about you, such as:
- Financial links to other people.
- Whether you're on the electoral roll.
- Any credit accounts you have.
- Missed payments or defaults.
- Recent searches of your credit report (these only stay on your file for max one year).
However, the statutory credit report doesn't contain your 'credit score', monitoring services and other sorts of data normally provided by your FULL credit report. We've got more info on how to check your full credit report below.
You have a legal right to check your statutory credit report. It used to cost £2, but since GDPR was introduced in 2018, it's now free. Checks for the statutory credit report are all done online so they're quick and easy to do (and are much more efficient than the old mail-only method, though you can still get a paper version if you wish).
How to check your full credit report for FREE
It used to be that the only way you could check your full report for free was to sign up to 30-day free trials with the credit agencies, and then cancel before the time's up so you don't get charged. Yet now there is more choice out there.
Which way you choose to check your report will depend on what's most important to you – a full bells and whistles credit-monitoring service free for 30 days, or a more basic, but free-for-life service.
Here's how to do it, broken down by agency:
MSE Credit Club – free access to your monthly Experian Credit Report
What you get: MSE's Credit Club offers full access to your Experian credit report and credit score for free. Your report updates each month, and you'll be able to see details of all credit accounts you have, searches made against your file, financial associations and linked addresses, plus much more. And you won't ever have to pay for it.
How to cancel: It's easy. Just log in to your account, go to 'Settings' then click the big red 'Delete My Account' button. But if you're leaving we'd love to know why – please email us so we can fix any issues.
Need to know: You will be able to access your last 12 months of reports.
Or alternatively...
Experian's CreditExpert – free 30-day trial*. CreditExpert offers new customers a "free 30-day trial, then £14.99 a month" service. It's different from MSE's Credit Club in that it gives you real-time access to your credit report (as opposed to information that's updated monthly). It also offers an eligibility checker. You can only do the free-trial once. To cancel your subscription, log into your account and go to 'My Subscriptions'.
Experian's Credit Score – free subscription to your score. If you don't want to pay a subscription to see your credit report, you can sign up for free to see your Experian Credit Score. You won't have to pay anything, but the information is limited to seeing your credit score, as opposed to credit report. The score updates every 30 days.
Clearscore* – free access to your monthly Equifax Credit Report
What you get: Clearscore* provides free Equifax scores and reports, updated once a month, and also has an eligibility checker. Clearscore's services are free for life.
How to cancel: Go to your 'My Account' page, and click on 'Delete My Account', you'll be sent an email to confirm your cancellation request has been processed.
Need to know: Clearscore sometimes needs basic details about which bank you're with in order for you to sign up. For instance, Clearscore might ask you to confirm the first two digits of your banking sort code and last six digits of your account number. These details are only used to match you to your credit report and are not saved by Clearscore.
Or alternatively...
Equifax's Credit Report and Score – free 30-day trial. Equifax offers a 30-day free trial, then £7.95 a month. The paid-for service gives you access to your real-time credit report as well as weekly email alerts whenever there are changes to your account, like a new search. To avoid being charged, you'll need to cancel your subscription at least 24 hours before the free trial is up. You can do this by going through 'My Account' and then 'Product Management' – alternatively you can cancel by calling 0800 014 2955.
Credit Karma – free access to your TransUnion report
What you get: You can access your TransUnion credit report and score through Credit Karma, which never charges. Your credit report information will be updated every seven days, and there's also an eligibility checker.
How to cancel: You'll need to log into your account, then go through 'Profile & Settings', 'My Profile' and click 'Close my account'.
Need to know: You can apply online or via Credit Karma's app, just enter your details and you'll receive an email with an activation link – make sure you click it within 24 hours otherwise you might need to sign up again.
Or alternatively...
Credit Monitor – free access to your TransUnion report. An alternative to Credit Karma is Credit Monitor, powered by MoneySupermarket, which also offers completely free access to your TransUnion credit report and score. The main difference is that Credit Monitor updates your details every month, whereas Credit Karma updates your score weekly.
How to check all three in one go
CheckMyFile gives you a 30-day trial to see your Experian, TransUnion and Equifax reports in one place. After that, it's £14.99 a month. It's really only for those who want the monitoring, as a combination of Clearscore, Credit Karma and Experian will provide monthly snapshots of these three agencies for free.
To cancel, either call 0800 086 9360 or log into your account, then click through 'Expert Help', 'I need help with my account' and then 'I'd like to stop my subscription'.
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