Credit time

My calendar for Saturday shows that its about time I got a credit report.

The reason I'm blogging is that I was glad to see that AnnualCreditReport.com is the first hit on Google when searching for "free credit report". This is my way of helping keep it there.

In case you hadn't heard, US citizens are given a free look at their credit report each year for each of the three credit agencies (Transunion, Experian, Equifax). Mind you, this does not include your credit score, just the rest of the information they store. It's stupid, I know. I blame bankers.

Since the various reports show mostly identical information I set it up so that my queries let me get a look at my report three times a year. Every four months I check another company, rather than just order all of them at once.

While this isn't likely to save me from identity theft*, it does make me feel better and it makes me to check my credit report so I keep it in mind.

I'm sure glad the bastards from Free Credit Report.com didn't get first place (they're #2). If you've seen their TV ads and know me or read this blog, you understand. Obviously, they don't give you anything for free.

And speaking of free, I do get limited credit monitoring from Equifax through Paypal. It's not a great service, but it does alert me if something major happens on the one credit card on which I have a high credit limit.


* I wonder what a "War on Identity Theft" would look like.