In the US your credit score shapes apartment approvals, loan rates and insurance premiums. It is also a subject where a lot of the numbers in circulation have no federal source behind them.
1. What you can do now. You have a legal right to one free credit report a year from each of the three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) — AnnualCreditReport.com or (877) 322-8228. Online, another CFPB answer says you can check once a week for free. Raising a score starts with reading what is actually on the report.
2. Where the risk is. Most negative information can be reported for seven years, and bankruptcies for up to ten. A lawsuit or judgment runs seven years or until the statute of limitations expires, whichever is longer — so it can outlast the seven.
3. What to do. The dispute deadline forks: normally 30 days, but 45 days for a dispute filed after you obtained your annual free report. And note that the familiar “payment history 35%” weightings are not in this article — the CFPB page contains no percentages at all.
First: get your report for free
Before raising a score, read what is actually on the report. In the CFPB’s words:
“You have the right to request one free copy of your credit report each year from each of the three major consumer reporting companies”
“To get the free credit report authorized by law, go to AnnualCreditReport.com or call (877) 322-8228.”
The three are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. What the law guarantees is one per company per year.
🔴 Corrected here. An earlier version said the CFPB does not state a frequency for “free every week”. That is true of the answer page above, which says only that reports may be available more frequently online — but another CFPB answer (“Does requesting my credit report hurt my credit score?”) does state it.
“You can review your credit report online for free once a week, from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).”
“You can request a copy of your credit report by mail once every 12 months from each of the three companies.”
“And, until December 2026, you can use annualcreditreport.com to request as many as six free copies of your Equifax credit report during any twelve-month period.”
So: online, once a week from each of the three; by mail, once every 12 months. The six Equifax copies run only until December 2026. The wording “authorized by law” still attaches to the annual copy, so the two quotes sit side by side.
What goes into the score
The factors the CFPB says scoring models typically consider, in the order the page lists them:
| # | CFPB wording | In plain terms |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Your bill-paying history” | Did you pay on time |
| 2 | “Your current unpaid debt” | What you still owe |
| 3 | “The number and type of loan accounts you have” | How many accounts, of what kind |
| 4 | “How long you have had your loan accounts open” | Length of history |
| 5 | “How much of your available credit you’re using” | Utilisation |
| 6 | “New applications for credit” | Recent applications |
| 7 | “Whether you have had a debt sent to collection, a foreclosure, or a bankruptcy, and how long ago” | Derogatory marks and their age |
No weightings appear here. The widely repeated “35% / 30% / 15% / 10% / 10%” comes from FICO, a private company; the CFPB page carries no percentage at all (confirmed on two reads). It should not be presented as a federal figure.
Fixing an error — the deadline forks
You can dispute incorrect information. Here is the part people miss.
“a credit reporting company generally must investigate the dispute within 30 days of receiving it”
“If you file a dispute after receiving your free annual credit report, they have 45 days to investigate.”
“If you submit additional information relevant to your dispute during the 30-day investigation period, they can extend the investigation period for 15 additional days.”
“They have five business days after completing an investigation to notify you of the results.”
| Situation | Investigation window |
|---|---|
| Ordinary dispute | 30 days |
| Dispute after your free annual report | 45 days |
| You supply more information mid-investigation | up to 15 more days |
| Notifying you of the outcome | within five business days |
So pulling your free report, spotting an error and disputing immediately lengthens the wait. If something time-sensitive depends on it — a mortgage application, say — plan around that difference.
Disputes can go to both the credit reporting company and the furnisher that supplied the information. The CFPB says furnishers “generally must investigate and respond to your dispute within 30 days”.
How long bad marks stay
“A credit reporting company generally can report most negative information for seven years.”
“Bankruptcies can stay on your report for up to ten years.”
“Information about a lawsuit or a judgment against you can be reported for seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is longer.”
That last line matters: judgments can outlast seven years if the statute of limitations has not run. Unlike the other categories, the clock is not fixed.
You will often see “Chapter 7 stays ten years, Chapter 13 seven”. That distinction is not on the CFPB page, so this article says only “bankruptcies up to ten years”. The page was re-reviewed on 2 September 2026 and the distinction is still absent.
The re-reviewed page does spell out one exception. “Time limits on reporting negative information do not apply if the credit report will be used in connection with” — an application for a job that pays more than $75,000 a year, or an application for more than $150,000 worth of credit or life insurance. In those two cases the seven- and ten-year limits do not apply. The chart below shows only the ordinary limits.
The order to work in
- Pull all three reports from AnnualCreditReport.com — the three can differ, so read all of them.
- Find what is wrong — accounts you do not recognise, debts already paid, someone else’s data.
- File the dispute — check whether your clock is 30 or 45 days and plan accordingly.
- Wait for the notification — within five business days of the investigation closing.
- Manage the seven factors — especially paying on time and utilisation.
For how this feeds into borrowing costs, see the US mortgage guide and the loan calculator.
Report versus score, in three lines
| Item | Credit report | Credit score |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The record of accounts, payments and delinquencies | A number a model produces from that record |
| Free by law | One per year from each of the three | Not verified in the source |
| If it is wrong | You can dispute (30 or 45 days) | Changes once the report is corrected |
For other fixed costs of US life see health insurance and the cost of running a car; on the income side, salary and take-home pay.
Questions people ask
Does checking my score lower it?
Checking your own report does not. The CFPB: “Checking your own credit report is not an inquiry about new credit, so it has no effect on your score.” A lender’s check is different — “A single credit inquiry from a lender will have little impact on your credit score.” Rate-shopping is allowed for: inquiries within 14 to 45 days of each other for the same type of loan count as one, and for the most common models student-loan, auto-loan and mortgage inquiries in the 30 days before scoring have no effect at all. Going past 45 days, or shopping for two different types of loan, generally counts as several.
What counts as a good score?
There is a range but no bands. The CFPB says “Most credit scores range from 300-850.” and does not say where “good” begins. Multiple scoring models exist and the bands differ between them.
Will closing a card hurt my score?
The CFPB list includes length of history and utilisation, so there may be an effect. The CFPB’s own answer names one case — closing some cards and moving the balances onto one can hurt if it pushes up the share of your total limit you are using. The same answer passes on the expert advice to keep use at “no more than 30 percent of your total credit limit”, and adds “You don’t need to carry a balance on credit cards to get a good score.” The size of any score change is not in the source.
I just moved to the US and have no history.
The CFPB points newcomers to credit to specific products — “Financial institutions have developed an array of products and services, such as secured credit cards and credit builder loans, tailored to helping consumers establish and build credit.” After that it comes back to the factors: the same answer calls repayment history “the number one factor”.
Is a report the same as a score?
No. The report is the record; the score is what a model produces from it. What the law makes free is the report.
To stop new accounts being opened in your name there is the credit freeze — free, with no effect on your score (credit freeze and fraud alert).
Sources and where to check
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — How do I get a free copy of my credit reports? (reviewed 28 August 2023). Source of “one free copy…from each of the three major consumer reporting companies” and AnnualCreditReport.com.
- CFPB — What is a credit score? (reviewed 28 August 2023). Source of the seven factors. Also the source of the 300–850 range. Re-reviewed 2 September 2026, and still no percentages.
- CFPB — How long does it take to repair an error on a credit report? (reviewed 5 September 2025). Source of the 30 / 45 / +15 / five business days deadlines.
- CFPB — How long does information stay on my credit report? (reviewed 5 September 2025). Source of seven years, ten for bankruptcies, and the statute-of-limitations rule, and of the $75,000 / $150,000 exceptions. Re-reviewed 2 September 2026; the three quoted sentences are unchanged.
- CFPB — How do I dispute an error on my credit report? (reviewed 12 December 2024). Source of the two-track dispute structure.
- CFPB — Does requesting my credit report hurt my credit score? (reviewed 14 May 2024). Source of weekly online access, yearly by mail, six Equifax copies until December 2026, and self-checks have no effect.
- CFPB — What kind of credit inquiry has no effect on my credit score? (reviewed 31 December 2024). Source of the 14–45 day window and the 30-day rule.
- CFPB — How do I get and keep a good credit score? (reviewed 12 December 2024). Source of 30 percent, closing cards, secured cards and credit builder loans.
Written as of July 2026. The free-report entitlement, the seven factors, the dispute deadlines and the retention periods all come from the CFPB pages above, and each was read twice with matching results. On 22 September 2026 we reopened eight CFPB answers and resolved four of the six items an earlier version could not verify — weekly online access, the 300–850 range, how inquiries affect a score, and how to build a file from scratch. The earlier line that the CFPB “does not state a frequency” came from reading one page only; the correction is left in place above. Three things are still unverified: (1) the factor weightings (still no percentage on the re-reviewed page; the familiar 35/30/15/10/10 is FICO’s); (2) the Chapter 7 versus Chapter 13 distinction; and (3) where a “good” score begins. Multiple scoring models exist, so results differ between providers. This is not financial advice.
