Taking Control of Your Finances

Many of you probably don't know me or my background.  I am a licensed Certified Public Accountant.  In my non-blogging life, I have a wonderful government job with great benefits.

So this post is written from that point of view - the practical side of me.

Did you know??

FREE Credit Reports. Federal law allows you to:

• Get a free copy of your credit report every 12 months from each credit reporting company.
• Ensure that the information on all of your credit reports is correct and up to date.

Your credit reports matter.

• Credit reports may affect your mortgage rates, credit card approvals, apartment requests, or even your job application.
• Reviewing credit reports helps you catch signs of identity theft early.

You can go to www.annualcreditreport.com  to get your FREE (yes, totally FREE!) credit report from each of the credit reporting agencies.  Personally, I would recommend getting one of the reports now, and getting another one in 4 months, and the last one 4 months after that.  You can get a free report from each report each year, but you don't need to get them all at the same time.  By staggering them, you can keep an eye on your credit all year.

You do NOT get your credit score with these reports.  Scores usually cost a few bucks (usually about $10-$15).  But if you monitor your credit and keep it in good shape, your credit score should be high.