Thanks to the pandemic, you can check your credit report every week — for free

You probably know that you have the right to inspect your credit reports from the three largest reporting bureaus every year for free.

You might not know that you can now check your credit reports for free every week at the website annualcreditreport.com. (That’s the only site. Beware of imposters.)

It’s a benefit that TransUnion, Experian and Equifax unveiled in April 2020 to help consumers avoid being victimized by a COVID-19-related scam.

The free weekly access was supposed to expire this April. But on Tuesday, the three bureaus announced it will be extended for another year, through April 2022.

By filling out a short online application, consumers can see the same information that creditors see when reviewing applications for any kind of credit, including big-ticket purchases, apartment leases, insurance policies, loans and credit cards.

Knowing what they see can help you manage your expectations about the type and amount of credit that will be offered, and at what terms.

If your report shows that you pay all of your bills on time, haven’t defaulted on any of your obligations, and are carrying a reasonable amount of revolving debt, you should expect to be offered large loans from prime lenders at the lowest possible interest rates.

If your report shows that you often pay your bills late, had purchases repossessed, or maxed out your available credit, you can expect fewer offers of less credit from subprime lenders at higher rates.

Frequent checks of your credit report can help you spot incorrect reporting by creditors or the bureaus. According to Consumer Reports, complaints about errors increased from 90,712 in 2019 to 196,073 in 2020.

“No one should lose out on opportunities like an apartment or job or pay a higher interest rate on a loan because of an error on their credit report,” said policy analyst Syed Ejaz in a news release. “The credit bureaus need to ensure credit reports are accurate so that everyone stands a better chance of accessing affordable credit and building a financially stable life and secure future.”

Your credit report will also show large purchases by identity thieves or hackers who applied for credit in your name.

Noticing and reporting the crimes quickly can boost your prospects of getting the negative information removed, protect your credit score and even help authorities catch the crooks.

If you see a mistake on your report, contact the credit bureaus immediately so they can put a fraud alert on your account. A fraud alert will require creditors to verify your identity before providing a new credit line, sending an additional credit card or increasing the credit limit on an existing line.

If you informed your mortgage servicer that you planned to suspend making monthly payments because of a COVID-19-related loss of income — as Congress and the president authorized last year — your credit report will reveal whether the mortgage servicer is breaking the law by reporting you as delinquent.

Credit scores — also known as FICO scores or VantageScores — aren’t required to be disclosed as part of your free credit report access. But the bureaus have made it easy to learn your score for little or no additional charge.

After you go to annualcreditreport.com, you’ll have to input your name, date of birth, social security number, address, phone number and email address, and verify your identity by answering a few security questions.

You’ll then be taken separately to pages where you’ll see your reports from each of the bureaus.

At the top of the TransUnion report, you’ll see a “Score” tab that will link to an offer to show you your VantageScore for 99 cents. Don’t click on the “Show my credit score now” link at the bottom of your report. That takes you to a signup page for a $24.99-a-month credit monitoring service.

The Equifax and Experian report pages each include offers to show you your credit score if you sign up for their free basic memberships. Equifax’s is called Equifax Core Credit and Experian’s is Experian CreditWorks Basic.

Of course, you can expect to get marketing offers and upgrade pitches if you sign up for either service, but you can cancel after you’ve seen your credit score.

Many banks and credit card companies also provide free credit scores access to customers who use their online services. Look for a link at the side of your account landing page.

Providing frequent free access to credit reports is a reverse in course by the bureaus compared to a couple decades ago.

Prior to 2003, the bureaus forced us to pay them if we wanted to see what their files said about our creditworthiness — unless that information had just prompted a creditor to reject our application, and only then could we see our report for free.

In 2003, Congress enacted the annual free credit report requirement as part of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

In recent years, Equifax has offered free credit monitoring as part of its atonement for leaving its database vulnerable to the theft of 147 million consumers’ personal information by hackers in 2017.

On Tuesday, Consumer Reports applauded the bureau’s decision to extend free weekly credit report access for another year, but called on the bureaus to make it permanent.

“There is no good reason why consumers should be charged at all to access their own data,” Ejaz said. “The credit bureaus are already profiting handsomely selling access to consumer data to lenders and a whole host of other firms that regularly check credit reports.”