You know you are supposed to do it, but you just never get around to it.  You can save yourself a ton of problems, if you could just do it once a year.  You keep hearing ads about it and news items every few months, but you just never get around to it.  Now’s the time.  Order your free credit report right now.  Go to www.annualcreditreport.com and just do it.  Yes, they will ask a few nosey and personal questions, but they have to make sure it is you.  They will ask for information you should not give out to just anyone, but they need it to identify you.  Once you have your report, plan to spend a little time going over every entry.  Do you recognize each creditor?  Is what they are reporting correct?  If there is a credit card you don’t recognize, be afraid, very afraid.  You may catch a problem, perhaps even an identity theft, before it becomes a worse problem.  So, go ahead, be proactive, order your free credit report, and do it now.

On an upcoming edition of Legal Line, we will be discussing credit issues.  Watch for the live broadcast, or download the podcast.  A great book on the topic of money troubles is Solve Your Money Troubles: Debt, Credit & Bankruptcy, by Robin Leonard and Margaret Reiter.