I Just Obtained a Free Copy of my Credit Report

I take advantage of the free credit reports available from http://www.annualcreditreport.com/. I do not use the other site that has "free" in its URL instead of "annual" and is advertised on TV. The reason I don't the "freecreditreport" site is that it really isn't free. I regard having to remember to call and cancel and waiting on hold for who-knows-how-long as a cost.

I space my reports among the three major credit reporting companies. I hit Transunion in March, Experian in July, and Equifax in November. This gives me a sample every 4 months of my credit. Since the calendar says that it's July, I pulled my Experian report. As expected, all it has was all both of my credit cards and showed them as being paid current.

The law allowing you to obtain one free copy each year of your credit report from each major credit reporting company has been on the books now for about 3 years. If you have not taken advantage, I highly recommend that you do so. The first time I did, I found errors on all three reports that I was able to have corrected and negatives that I was able to have removed.

With me having paid off my mortgage, owning my cars free and clear, and not carrying credit card debt, and not anticipating being in the market for loans, why should I care about my credit report?

Things could change. I could find myself changing employers and moving to a different city. The prospective employer might pull my credit report to check on my character. Were I to rent an apartment I could have my credit report checked there also. Even if I don't encounter such disruption in my life, my auto insurer bases premiums on my credit report. Were someone to steal my identity, I would find out much sooner than if I waited for the identity thief's charges to work their way to a bill collector.