← Find your next step

Credit · start with free information

Your credit. Know where you stand.

Before choosing a credit-building product, get your reports, check the details and make a plan. No purchase or referral signup is needed to use this guide.

Get your free credit reports ↗
1 · Get reports from all three bureaus

AnnualCreditReport.com is the official source for free reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Follow its identity-verification steps, choose your reports and save them securely. No paid monitoring subscription is required. Checking your own reports does not hurt your score.

Prefer another route? Call 877-322-8228 or use the official mail request instructions. If online verification fails, follow those alternatives.

Official report-request instructions ↗

2 · Report versus score: what am I looking at?

Credit report: a record of reported accounts, balances and payment history. Credit score: a number calculated from credit information; different models can give different numbers. Your free report may not include a score. A monitoring-app score may differ from the score a mortgage lender uses.

Understand reports and scores ↗

3 · Your report-review checklist
  • Are the accounts yours?
  • Are balances and payment statuses correct?
  • Do unfamiliar inquiries or duplicate entries need investigation?
  • Are closed or paid accounts described correctly?
  • Does each bureau show the same error, or just one?

Write down the bureau, item, reason and supporting evidence for each suspected error. Keep a private follow-up log; do not upload your full report to Dmoonz’s general contact form.

4 · Dispute an error yourself—for free

Contact each bureau showing the error and the company that supplied it. Explain the specific mistake, request a correction and provide supporting copies. Keep originals and submission records. Follow up on the investigation result; a dispute does not guarantee removal of accurate information.

The CFPB guide provides bureau contacts and sample letters. Open the free dispute guide ↗

If an unfamiliar account suggests identity theft, start at IdentityTheft.gov ↗.

5 · Build credit with a plan you can afford

Pay on time, keep card balances low relative to limits and apply only for credit you need. Carrying interest-bearing debt is not necessary to build a score.

Before considering a secured card or credit-builder loan, compare total fees, interest, deposit requirements, which bureaus receive reports, payment dates and consequences of missed payments. A checking account or cash advance is not automatically a credit-building product. No product guarantees a score increase.

Read CFPB credit-building guidance ↗

Need help organizing your next steps?

Tell Dmoonz your general goal—renting, buying a home or understanding a report—and we can help organize a checklist and point you to resources. Keep Social Security numbers, passwords, bank details and full credit reports out of general intake. Enter identity-verification information directly on the official provider’s secure site.

Ask Dmoonz for help ↗

Reviewed October 12, 2026. Educational navigation; no guaranteed deletion, credit approval or score increase. Official report and dispute links above are not affiliate links.