KXLY March 3, 2021 7:48 AM Lisa Rowan - Forbes Advisor Posted: Updated: March 5, 2021 3:42 AM When the pandemic began, the three major credit bureaus allowed Americans to access their credit reports for free once weekly through April 20, 2021, instead of the once-yearly access normally required by federal law. Today, those credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian and TransUnion—have announced an extension of that access through April 20, 2022. The bureaus’ joint hub for free credit reports, AnnualCreditReport.com, typically allows consumers to access one free credit report from each bureau each year. Extending the weekly allowance by a year gives consumers more time to keep an extra close eye on their credit history during a time when they may be struggling to pay their bills and when scammers are targeting everything from stimulus checks to unemployment benefits.