I finally got around to viewing my free credit report entitled me under the law, as a U.S. citizen.

The only officially endorsed “Free Credit Report” by the FTC.gov (Federal Trade Commission) web site is annualcreditreport.com.

The annualcreditreport.com site is a bit clunky in it’s implementation, constantly going back and forth to the three credit bureau web sites, but whatever, as long as you don’t close that original window, it’s fine.

It only took a few minutes. I did have to look up an account number or two for verification purposes, other than that it was quick and easy online. Only one of them lets you save it and view it later by logging in (so make sure you print it out). I use FireFox, and “Save Page As…” to save the entire page + graphics to my local computer (with one click) - this worked on all but the Equifax site, some javascript crap I think renames the file or something so you can’t save it.

Anyway, it was pretty easy. One of them gave you the option of opting out of publically viewable credit reports.