It's Time to Snoop-On Yourself!

NEA Today, Feb 2006

Another report card to review, but this one's about you.

Not many things in life are free-but thanks to recent legislation, peeks at your credit report finally are. All Americans are now entitled to a free copy of their credit report from each of the national credit-monitoring agencies, once per year. Don't assume that this is a ho-hum development. Your credit rating affects many parts of your life. If you need to borrow money to buy a car or a home, lenders will be checking out your credit history. These days, insurers, landlords, and even some prospective employers have taken to looking at credit ratings.

You should be looking at your credit report too-to check for errors or signs of foul play. If your identity is stolen or someone is using credit under your name, you'll likely see signs of this activity on your credit report.

Since there are three main reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion), consider getting your annual freebie from one of them every four months. That way, you'll be able to review your record fairly frequently throughout each year. (Note that each agency might have different information on you.)

To request your free reports, click over to www.annualcreditreport.com (be sure to spell it correctly, or you may end up at a fraudster's site) or call 877322-8228. Once you get your copy, make sure that all the information on it is correct. Be thorough. The report should include information on how to have errors corrected.

Learn more at www.ftc.goWbcp/ conline/edcams/freereports/index.html.