Helpful $ Tidbit

[ceebeegee]

New York State residents (and--I think??--everyone in the country now) can get three free credit reports per calendar year, one from each of the three big credit reporting agencies: TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.  Go to AnnualCreditReport.com and choose which agency you'd like--for maximum effectiveness, go every four months.  You have to give them your SSN and some other identifying information, and then they generate a report that shows your credit usage and history for the past seven years.  Mine right now just has credit cards (including closed ones) but it used to show the two loans I've taken out.  (Hmmm, I'm wondering if I should take out a loan of some kind, that helps improve your FICO score because it shows you can manage different types of credit.)  I would also suggest generating the report at a computer where you can print it out, so you can look over the report and note any mistakes.  If you do find mistakes, you need to write the reporting agency and have them fix it.

If you have credit cards (which, face it, most of us do) or a current loan do not EVEREVEREVER pay late.  ALWAYS pay on time, even if it's just the minimum.  The surest way to mess up your credit is to pay late.

(Do NOT go to FreeCreditReport.com, that site is a scam.  In order to get your "free" report they make you sign up and pay for their service and it is supposedly very difficult to stop the service.)