Have you checked your credit report this year?

Last week I started trying to sort through and organize my file cabinet where I keep our bills and financial information. (If anyone has any tips for keeping these records organized, I would love to hear them!) For me, the filing cabinet seems to be somewhat of a black hole for papers ... they go in and never come out again. For example, I came across the old bills from a cell phone that we discontinued service on five years ago. Ugh. I don't think I need to keep those anymore!

However, I did come across the folder containing our credit reports from the past two years, and I am glad that I did because it reminded me that I need to get copies of our credit reports again soon. Checking your credit reports is easy and it is free. Just go to AnnualCreditReport.com and follow the instructions to get a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting companies, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.

Checking your credit report each year is a good idea even if you think your credit report is clean. The first year I got our reports, I found that one of the credit reporting companies had combined my husband's credit report with that of another man with the same name (who had some negative items on his credit report). I am happy to say that one telephone call to the credit reporting company got the incorrect items removed without any problems, but if I would not have checked the credit reports, I might not have known.