Free credit reports

One good way to protect your personal information is to review your credit report regularly. By law you are allowed one free report each year from each of the big three reporting agencies. Here’s how you can use this to your best advantage.

First, go to annualcreditreport.com. There are many similarly named sites, but this one is the official site. Follow the instructions on how to request your free credit report, but rather than requesting one from each agency, pick one agency and request a report from them. Set yourself a recurring reminder to request another report from a different agency every four months. In the reminder, set up a schedule like this

December Transunion
April Equifax
August Experian
annualcreditreport.com

This way you will remember which ones you already ordered and which is the official site.

Review your report looking for credit inquiries you were not aware of, as well as any accounts you didn’t open.