It's important that everyone keep their eye on their credit reports. There are some places that advertise free credit reports.. but they are all bogus. The most well known is free credit report.com. What they do to scam you is tell you the credit report is free, and after you get it, they automagically enroll you in their "fraud alert" program, which has a monthly cost. You are obligated for the first month due to the conditions box that you tic off without reading. You have to opt out or get billed every month after that.
The Fed requires the 3 agencies provide anyone who wants one, a credit report for free. The only portal to get it is at www.annualcreditreport.com
What that web site does is collect some demographic information from you, and provide a portal to each of the 3 bureaus, one at a time. You can choose just one, or all 3. You can only get this free report once per year. It's completely safe, and it will show you all the activity with your credit. It does not provide a credit score however. It only shows you the status of your credit accounts, and inquires on your credit from other companies.
My Experian report contained a credit account for JC Penny. I do not have a JC Penny credit card. It shows just a couple hundred dollars of charges in 2007, and currently has a zero balance and does not negatively affect my credit score, but it's not mine, so I disputed it. Hopefully it's not a pain in the ass to get it removed, but had I not checked today, I'd never known it was there.
Just do it.
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