The Lifelong Learner :: Do what you can, with what you have, where you are -Roosevelt ::

Do you ever plan to buy a house? Finance a car? If so, you better have a good credit or you might not get a good deal. It seems like credit reports are getting more important. I even heard that some car-insurance companies will be accepting customers based on a credit report. The list goes on and on. Simply put, you need to have a good credit report and you need to verify that fairly often — once every year or so. That costs money, no? Sure it does, but things are changing.

There is a new law in place now. You can get a free report from each of the major companies (Equifax Inc., Experian and TransUnion) for free. Every year! That’s some good news. You might just have to wait a little longer, though. See the breakdown of states and the eligibility, below. It looks like NJ will be eligible for free reports starting on Sept 1, 2005.

How do you get it? Visit AnnualCreditReport.com and get it from there.

My strategy? I check a different report every 4 months. I setup a calendar reminder so I know when to do it.