Online Credit Reports

I tend to be very paranoid about my credit rating. I pay all my bills way in advance and never have written a bad check or anything. Most of you are probably shaking your head wondering why this is important. The first time you go out and try to get a car loan or an apartment/house by yourself without the rents’ money backing you up, your credit will be checked. You need to have a clean history in order to get approved with a good rate.

A couple years ago I lost my wallet, and back then VA used your SSN as your license number. Smart. So when someone got your license they had everything they needed to falsify financial documents and open lines of credit in your name. Ever since I misplaced my wallet, I’ve been vigilant about check my credit report.

Luckily the government knows this is crucial to stem the tide of the ever increasing crime of identity theft. You can get your credit report online from the government  at AnnualCreditReport.com. While this will not give you your credit “score” (that number between 400 and 800) it will let you look at all your loans/debts/credit cards and from there you can make sure nothing is out of place, and that no one has opened anything in your name.

This article from MSNBC says that many of those online “free credit score” websites are actually run by the credit reporting agencies and give you the same information available at the gov’t website, but make you pay for it. So don’t be a sucker, check your report- AND use the free site.