Identity theft is becoming a very big business - we just had a mild brush with it. Luckily, only one account was hacked rather than full blown identity theft. But one of the lawyers I work with had it happen, and it took him YEARS to get it straightened out. There is no excuse not to check - the government requires the credit reporting companies to give you a free report every year. Free. You hear? FREE. You can do it on line, over the phone, through the mail.
There is NO reason or excuse not to. I pulled ours last night. It took maybe 30 minutes (not counting the swearing at TransUnion.)
All you have to do is go to www.annualcreditreport.com and follow the directions. I suggest that you get each of them separately. That way if there's anything to dispute, you'll be able to dispute online with each of them. TransUnion tends to be a real bitch - I've never gotten them to admit that I'm actually me online - I always have to call and get one through the mail. I suspect they do that intentionally, but I digress.
Each report is viewable for 30 days, and printable. If you want a credit score you'll need to pony up some money. But the report is free, and oh so valuable. I check ours every year when I do the taxes. So go - check your credit report, and stymie the bad guys.
Why are you still here reading this? Go check that report. www.annualcreditreport.com Go now.
May you all find nothing untoward.
