How to check your credit report for free

Your credit report is a record of your financial history that lenders look at when you apply for credit, and you have a legal right to see it for free. Every one of the three main credit reference agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, must give you a free copy of the file it holds on you if you ask. This is called your statutory credit report, and making the request costs nothing¹.

There are also free apps and websites that show your report data, and some add a credit score on top. The Experian app shows both your credit report and your credit score for free², ClearScore is a free-for-life service showing your Equifax data³, and Money Saving Expert's Credit Club gives free access to your TransUnion report⁴. Checking your own report never lowers your score, no matter how often you do it⁵.

What a credit report is and why lenders check it

A credit report consists of information about your financial history, which lenders look at to judge your suitability for their credit products¹⁰. When you apply for a credit card, the provider checks your credit record with a credit reference agency to see if you are credit worthy¹¹. The same happens with most forms of borrowing: when you apply for credit, the creditor checks your credit report and uses the information on it to decide whether to lend to you¹².

Lenders also use your file as part of affordability checks. They will check your credit file for details of your debts when assessing whether lending to you is responsible¹³. So the report serves two purposes from a lender's point of view: it shows how you have managed credit in the past, and it shows what you already owe now.

If you are 18 or older and have ever taken out a credit agreement, whether that is a mortgage, an overdraft or a mobile phone contract, you will have a credit report¹⁴. You do not have to be in debt to have one: the file is created by the fact of borrowing, and it records how those accounts have been handled. Lenders, landlords and employers may all look at it in different ways, which is covered later in this page under who can see your credit report.

If you have had debt problems, the report is also the place to see what traces they have left. You can get a free copy of your credit report from a credit reference agency to see, for example, whether a County Court Judgment is recorded against you¹⁵. The full picture of what lenders see when they decide is covered in how lenders decide whether to accept you.

Your legal right to a free statutory credit report

You have a statutory right to request a copy of your credit reference report from the three main credit reference agencies, and making this request is free of charge¹. The right comes from data protection law: you can contact the credit reference agency and ask for a free copy of your credit report under the Data Protection Act 2018¹⁶. The agencies must offer your statutory credit report for free¹⁷, and you have a legal right to access it for free from any credit reference agency¹⁸.

This right is yours regardless of your circumstances. You do not need to be applying for credit, have been refused credit, or suspect a mistake. You can obtain a copy of your credit file free of charge from these agencies without having to go through a credit repair company⁹. That last point matters: some firms charge for "credit repair" services that amount to little more than requesting the free report you could request yourself. The dedicated page on credit repair companies explains what they can and cannot do.

One distinction to hold on to: the statutory report is the full record the agency holds, but it does not include a credit score. The next sections explain what the statutory report gives you, what the free services add, and how to make the request.

Experian, Equifax and TransUnion: three agencies, three files

There are three credit reference agencies in the UK: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion⁶. TransUnion was formerly known as Callcredit¹⁹. The three are the main UK credit agencies recognised in official guidance²⁰.

The reason this matters is that there is no single file. Each agency keeps its own record about you, and they do not always have the same information²¹. Not all lenders report to credit reference agencies; some lenders may only report to one or two of them²². A loan you took out years ago might appear on your Experian file but not on your Equifax file, simply because that lender only reports to Experian.

Because they keep different records, it is worth checking your credit file with all three credit reference agencies to make sure you have covered everything⁶. Checking one agency's file alone can give a false sense of security: a mistake or an unexpected entry could be sitting on one of the other two files. After a data breach, the advice is to check your credit report with all three main agencies to ensure credit is not being taken out in your name²³.

The agencies are described in more detail on the page the UK credit reference agencies, and the question of why scores differ between them is covered in why your score differs between agencies.

Free apps and websites or a statutory report: what each gives you

There are two routes to seeing your credit information for free, and they give you different things. The table below sets them side by side.

A few things follow from this. First, the statutory report and the free services are complements, not rivals. The statutory report is the authoritative record; the free services are the convenient way to keep an eye on things between requests, and they add a score.

Second, the free services differ in what they unlock. With Experian, the app shows both your report and your score for free², but the free online account only keeps the score free to access, and unlike the app and the paid-for CreditExpert service, you cannot see your credit report through it⁵. ClearScore, an Equifax partner, is a free-for-life service that shows you your credit rating³. Your TransUnion report is available free through the Money Saving Expert Credit Club⁴.

Third, watch the trials. Signing up for a free trial with CheckMyFile gives you access to all the information held on you by TransUnion, Experian and Equifax⁴, but a 30-day free trial is still a trial: it converts to a paid service unless you cancel. The page on credit monitoring and paid report services goes into what paid services add.

Your statutory credit report does not come with a score attached, but some services such as ClearScore and Credit Karma let you see a score alongside report data²⁵. If a score is what you are after, the free services are the route; if the underlying record is what you need, the statutory report is the fuller document. How the scores themselves work is explained in what is a credit score and how does it work?.

How to request your statutory credit report

To get a free copy of your credit report, you need to contact the credit reference agencies and fill in an application form. You can usually apply in writing, by phone or online²⁶. The Information Commissioner's Office, the data protection regulator, puts it more simply still: you can make a request verbally or in writing, and the CRAs also usually provide an online form you can use to apply¹.

The request itself is free of charge¹. When you apply, you need to give enough detail for the agency to find your file and satisfy itself that you are who you say you are. The details to provide are:

• your full name
• any other names you have used or been known by in the last six years, for example your maiden name
• your full address including postcode
• any other addresses you have lived at in the last six years
• your date of birth¹

The six years of addresses matters because your file is built partly from address links, and an agency cannot be confident it has found everything about you if it only knows where you live now. If you have moved several times, dig out the old postcodes before you start.

What if you cannot provide proof of address? The agency may ask you to send proof of your identity or address before it releases the report⁷. If you have no fixed address, or no documents in your name, this can become the practical obstacle. The statutory right still exists, but the agency's identity checks may take longer or need alternative evidence. Guidance on opening a bank account without standard documents covers some of the same evidence problems²⁸.

How long it takes. Your report should be sent to you within seven working days unless the agency needs you to send proof of your identity or address⁷. The legal deadline is longer: unless the CRA needs more information, they have one month from receiving your request to respond, and in certain circumstances they may need extra time and can take up to an extra two months¹.

The postal route. A statutory credit report by post costs £2.00⁸. This is the one route that is not free, and it exists for people who cannot or do not want to use the online process. The free routes, online form, phone or letter, cost nothing¹.

What your credit report shows, and what it leaves out

A credit report contains a mix of identifying information and credit history. What is included:

• your name, address and date of birth
• whether you are on the electoral roll at your current address
• how much you currently owe and to whom
• late and missed payments
• County Court Judgments, repossession, bankruptcy or an IVA¹⁴

The statutory report will show all the debts that the agency knows about²⁴, which is why it is the document to turn to when you need the full picture, for example when working out what you owe or checking whether an old judgment is still recorded.

Just as important is what the report leaves out. It does not include:

• the amount of money in your current account
• your salary
• savings accounts
• student loans
• a criminal record
• your medical history
• parking or driving fines
• council tax arrears¹⁴

Credit reports do not include information about your current account balance, though they do show lenders how many accounts you have open²⁸. This surprises many people: a lender judging an application cannot see your savings or your income from the report. Income and expenditure are gathered on the application form itself and, increasingly, through Open Banking affordability checks, not from the credit file.

The full contents of a report, entry by entry, are covered in what is on your credit report, and the codes lenders use to read account histories are explained in account status codes.

Most information stays on your file for six years

Most information stays on your credit report for six years, but this is not always the case²⁹. The six-year rule covers the entries people most often worry about. Some information stays on your credit file for six years, like missed payments, defaults and court judgments³⁰. Information such as missed payments, default notices and court judgments will generally stay on your credit file for six years⁹. The credit reference agency will leave most information on your report for at least six years³¹.

The same period applies across the main debt remedies:

Two points about the six years are worth fixing in mind. The first is that paying a debt does not remove the entry early. A paid CCJ still stays on your credit report until the six years is up, but your record will show that you have paid the debt¹⁵. The entry records the history, not just the current balance.

The second is that the clock runs from the event, not from when you check. Information is kept on file for six years from when it was first entered¹⁹. A default recorded five years ago has one year left; a missed payment from last month has nearly six. The detailed rules, including the entries that do not follow the six-year pattern, are on how long information stays on your credit file, and what happens to your file after insolvency is covered in rebuilding your credit after bankruptcy, an IVA or a DRO.

Mistakes on your report: how to dispute and correct them

Because the three agencies keep different records, built from what different lenders report to them, mistakes can appear on one file and not another. A debt you never took out, a missed payment you did make, an address link to somewhere you never lived: all of these happen, and all of them can be challenged.

If anything on your credit file is incorrect, you can ask the credit reference agencies to add a Notice of Correction, which allows you to provide an explanation for any errors or inaccurate information³⁶. A correction needs to be made with each of the three credit reference agencies, because a correction on one file does not fix the others³⁷. The notice is free to add and can be up to 200 words²⁹; guidance elsewhere puts the same limit on it, describing a notice of up to 200 words explaining why you got into debt³¹.

The process, in order:

1. Get your report from each agency, so you know exactly which entries appear where.
2. Raise the error with the lender that reported it, and with the agency holding the entry.
3. Ask for a Notice of Correction, up to 200 words, to be added to your file while the dispute runs²⁹.
4. Repeat with each of the three agencies, since they keep separate records³⁷.

A Notice of Correction is an explanation attached to your file, not a deletion. It sits alongside the entry and is seen by lenders who search your file. The difference between adding a notice and formally disputing an entry, and when each is the right tool, is set out in notice of correction vs raising a dispute, and the step-by-step process is in how to correct wrong information on your credit report.

One entry that deserves special attention is a judgment you do not recognise or believe is wrong. The page on when a CCJ or register entry is not yours or is wrong covers the specific routes for challenging register entries, which differ from ordinary credit file disputes.

Checking your report regularly can help you spot suspicious activity, giving you a chance to report it before it goes too far⁸. If an entry turns out to be the work of a fraudster rather than a clerical error, the route changes: the page on identity fraud and your credit file explains what to do, and Cifas markers and Protective Registration explains how to put a marker on your file to make fraudulent applications harder.