Check Yourself Before You Wreck Your Credit

January is a great time to remind yourself to get those annual things done, like doctors appointments, changing passwords and checking your credit report.

Did you know that by law, you're allowed to check your credit report with each of the three major agencies once a year for free? The FTC lays out the deets here. They'll direct you to annualcreditreport.com, which is the only site that is government sanctioned legitimately free with no strings attached, so don't waste your time with other sites like freecreditreport.com, no matter how catchy those songs are. 

This doesn't include your credit score (you still have to pay to see that), but it's still good to keep an eye on your credit reports to make sure there aren't any errors, and that no one is out there living as you, destroying your good name.