Many Americans are aware that they are entitled to receive free copies of their credit reports from the top three credit reporting services, but unscrupulous online sites are tricking unknowing users into paying membership fees exceeding $20 per month in the process.

U.S. law mandates that every American is entitled to receive a copy of his or her credit report from each of the top three credit reporting companies — Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. A dedicated website, annualcreditreport.com, simplifies the process and allows users access to their free reports by linking to the three agencies required to provide them.

Many copycat sites have popped up, hoping that Web surfers searching for "free credit report" wind up on their sites instead, and are tricking users into signing up for memberships that track and purportedly protect their credit for exorbitant monthly fees of almost $30.

To make sure you aren't a victim, only visit the official website set up for providing the annual reports as linked to in this article. You are entitled to a copy of your report from each agency once per year, but you don't have to request them all at once. It might be more beneficial to get one report from each agency approximately every four months, so you can keep up on the most recent information indicated on your credit.

Also, be aware that while your credit report, which details specific information on all loans, creditors and payment history, is required to be provided free of charge, credit scores are not. Credit scores are the number ratings, which range from 300 to 850 and are assigned based upon an algorithm that aggregates of all the information in your credit history.

There are some ways you can receive your credit score absolutely free, which we've covered in this article, but many websites such as freescoreonline.com, will require credit card information and that you sign up for a free trial "credit protection" membership in exchange, which begins billing $29.95 monthly unless you cancel within seven days.