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In addition, if you're denied credit or a loan, you're entitled to a free report from the credit bureau that supplied the information used for the decision. If there is erroneous information, you can dispute it (in writing) and the bureau will attach that to your report. Not sure to what extent they will investigate.

For general information, for those that don't know, you're entitled to one free report from each of the three credit bureau every twelve months. A good strategy is to request a report from a different one every four months - as most (all?) of the information should be same across them. This can be done through the following website or via the phone or snail mail (also below).

Main: https://www.annualcreditreport...

Getting Your Credit Reports: https://www.annualcreditreport...
(lists phone and U.S. mail info)

In addition, if you're denied credit or a loan, you're entitled to a free report from the credit bureau that supplied the information used for the decision. If there is erroneous information, you can dispute it (in writing) and the bureau will attach that to your report. Not sure to what extent they will investigate.

For general information, for those that don't know, you're entitled to one free report from each of the three credit bureau every twelve months. A good strategy is to request a report from a different one every four months - as most (all?) of the information should be same across them. This can be done through the following website or via the phone or snail mail (also below).

Main: https://www.annualcreditreport...

Getting Your Credit Reports: https://www.annualcreditreport...
(lists phone and U.S. mail info)

You probably know this already, but you already get one free per year from each of the 3 credit reporting agencies. (Thanks Uncle Sam!)

If you time it right, you can pull one every 4 months (rotating agencies, using each one yearly)

https://www.annualcreditreport...

Free credit report != Free fraud alert/monitoring.
Lots of fraud can happen in a 4 month time...

You probably know this already, but you already get one free per year from each of the 3 credit reporting agencies. (Thanks Uncle Sam!)

If you time it right, you can pull one every 4 months (rotating agencies, using each one yearly)

https://www.annualcreditreport...

Each of the major credit reporting agencies must supply you a complete credit report annually upon request. Come on, this is not new.

https://annualcreditreport.com...

Technically, that is true. I've got mine in the past this way. But is there a penalty if they do not comply?

The Credit Agenccies make it a total pain to get the free report, and try to up-sell you crap left and right. I've had them give me "high traffic; try again later" a few times, too.

I ordered mine, on paper, two months ago. None have yet arrived.

Each of the major credit reporting agencies must supply you a complete credit report annually upon request. Come on, this is not new.

https://annualcreditreport.com...

I just spend a few bucks and get all the information from this site I found, superget.info. Yeah, you can get it for free elsewhere but they don't try to stick you with signing up with all sorts of bullcrap. Funny, though, I can't seem to log into the site right now, maybe you're right about useful things getting shut down.

Google tells me I can get a free report from https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ but the site looks like one of those crappy scam sites crapped out of a template with some generic stock photos, so I'm not sure I'd trust it.

For years I've use and have sent many (lots of) people to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
for an anual credit report. In the US your allowed 1 free credit report a year. Three companies are sent
request, so one is able to get 3 reports a year or one more extensive one.

Experian is one of the three companies your request (and information) is sent to. I would imagine
any info I've sent them is now public domain.

Of course I've read the ToS of annualcreditreport https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/helpprivacy
it was all good, and still reads that way, till the very end: Last Updated November 15, 2006
I would think there would of been some changes by now.

Not sure if due to "Experian Sold Consumer Data to ID Theft Service", but there's a banner now that says:
Note: The AnnualCreditReport.com website will be temporarily unavailable due to planned maintenance from
approximately 8:30pm ET on October 22, 2013 to 8:00am ET on October 23, 2013.

For years I've use and have sent many (lots of) people to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
for an anual credit report. In the US your allowed 1 free credit report a year. Three companies are sent
request, so one is able to get 3 reports a year or one more extensive one.

Experian is one of the three companies your request (and information) is sent to. I would imagine
any info I've sent them is now public domain.

Of course I've read the ToS of annualcreditreport https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/helpprivacy
it was all good, and still reads that way, till the very end: Last Updated November 15, 2006
I would think there would of been some changes by now.

Not sure if due to "Experian Sold Consumer Data to ID Theft Service", but there's a banner now that says:
Note: The AnnualCreditReport.com website will be temporarily unavailable due to planned maintenance from
approximately 8:30pm ET on October 22, 2013 to 8:00am ET on October 23, 2013.

There is an official website that does that now. See the FTC page on it.

However, this does not detract from the fact that it is all a scam.

Try annualcreditreport.com instead.

Next time, go to http://annualcreditreport.com/ for your free report. No credit card or trial required. Takes care of all three agencies at once.

Plus once you file the police report and are a suspect of identity theft you can freeze your credit for free (usually it costs up to $10 per agency per person depending on the state you live in). Freezing your credit is easy to do and essentially eliminates the possibility of someone starting credit in your name (unless they break into your house and take the codes you printed from the three credit bureaus after freezing your credit). There is a guide to freezing your credit on the website of a financial podcast I listen too (http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/personal-finance-credit/credit-freeze-and-thaw-guide/nFbL/). You can also check on your credit for free once each year at the following website https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp (I recommend checking one of the three every 4 months).

Order a free copy of your credit report pronto and check for suspicious activity. Call the credit reporting agencies and put a fraud alert on your account - by providing a phone number only you have access to, any financial institution attempting to open a credit line or loan from someone using you stolen identity will see the fraud alert and call the phone number listed before approving. The fraud alert stays on your record for five years.

My soon-to-be-ex-wife attempted to open a $13,000 credit card in my name using stolen mail. The fraud alert put a stop to any more attempts. That fraud event came out in divorce court and the judge was not too pleased with her.

Regarding the emails to confirm or reset accounts, look for a link to report fraud. Use it (but not the p0rno emails, those bastards will just spam you forever since you just confirmed a live human on the other end).

Found some old recommendations I sent out to friends that weren't too tek savvy. It's fairly basic info that most should know.

I was looking into Life Lock and started reading what they actually do, which is in the fine print of their terms of service here.

http://www.dmachoice.org/ it's the primary service Life Lock uses to get you off of mailing lists and it's free. They also have some good info on how to keep secure online. There are several items you can go through to have your self removed form email and mail lists.

Then go to https://www.donotcall.gov/ and register your phone numbers for the do not call list.

Then go to https://www.optoutprescreen.com/ to remove your self from the credit card pre-approval lists.

If you want free credit reports use this site. https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp You can get 1 free report every year from each of the 3 reporting agencies. If you break it up you could get 1 every 2 month. I could get one from Equifax this month. Then in 2 months my wife could get one for them. Then in 2 months I could get one from TransUnion. etc... The reason to get them is mostly to see who has been looking at your credit. Then make sure all the loans are yours.

Now for your online stuff. Get an email account at google or some place else that you can use for those online registration things that you need to do from time to time. Use that account only for things that you are unsure about. Keep another account for the more important stuff like the banks. You could even have a 3rd account for your general email.

Most web browsers have an option too clear the cache and cookies. Look for it. In Safari on Mac look under the Safari menu then select Reset Safari... On Windows it's under the File Menu. In Firefox you need to look in the Preferences and the Security tab. Resetting and clearing out the cookies will also clear saved passwords. The reason to do this is because many web sites set tokens on your web browser called cookies that allow them to track you and what you do online. They can see where you are going and what you do online. For Windows this is a big problem because there are ways to install applications on the system without you knowing. Then your computer can be used to send email spam to others or even be used remotely to take over other computers. This is really only a problem on Windows but for Macs they can still track your online usage and figure things out about you that might make it easier to get you to click on something that would install an application that could take over your computer.

For email. Set your email program to not automatically read your mail and try to use the built-in spam filters. Also set the options to not download in-line pictures and such. The pictures in spam can be used to also track you and verify your email address. If you and I get the same piece of spam the picture will actually not be in the email it's actually a picture on a web server someplace. The name of the picture is unique to each spam email so when your mail program tries to access the picture from the internet the spammers computer ticks off the unique name your computer used to get the picture. That unique name is associated with your email address.

There has been not account compromise that you know of right? So there isn't much you can do. You should get your free credit report https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp This is the truly free ones. You can get one free one each year from each agency, there are 3 agencies so you can get one every 4 months. Just keep track of your financial info. You might disassociate the address they are trying to get into from any financial accounts. Change all your passwords to something good and use a password manager so you don't have to do the online reset process.

"Step 2: Get your free annual credit report from all 3 agencies (not just 1 agency) and go over it with a fine toothed comb. Make sure *EVERYTHING* on there is legit. Contact the agencies about any non-legit items to get them removed."

regarding that bit http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ is the address you need

or hit https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/order?mail for details on how to get this done (if you do the USPS method photocopy your DL and SS card and enclose that with the form)

"Step 2: Get your free annual credit report from all 3 agencies (not just 1 agency) and go over it with a fine toothed comb. Make sure *EVERYTHING* on there is legit. Contact the agencies about any non-legit items to get them removed."

regarding that bit http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ is the address you need

or hit https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/order?mail for details on how to get this done (if you do the USPS method photocopy your DL and SS card and enclose that with the form)

I don't think they existed before the US government mandated the credit agencies give you a free copy of your credit report every year (via annualcreditreport.com). "free"creditreport.com doesn't actually give you a credit report for free; you have to enroll in a reporting service to get it.

This is worth emphasizing more carefully so that people can't possibly miss it. You are entitled to one free yearly credit report from the consumer credit reporting agencies. The official website for this is AnnualCreditReport.com.

Some important details to be aware of:

• A credit report is not the same as a credit score. A credit report states what names and addresses are known for you, what credit accounts you have had, and your history of making payments on these accounts. A credit score is a number generated by a computerized analysis of your credit report, used for a quick judgement of how good your credit is.
• You're entitled to one free credit report each year, not a free credit score. The free reports website will forward you to the websites for the credit reporting agencies to get your reports. Read the pages in those websites very carefully, because the reporting agencies are sleazebags that will try to trick you into buying a credit score in addition to your free credit report, and sell you credit monitoring subscription services.
• The credit scores that the websites will try sell you are normally calculated with a different formula than the ones that lenders use to process your credit application. So don't buy the agencies' credit scores because you'd like to see the same score that a lender would pull up for you; the number will likely not be the same. (The credit agencies don't want you to know this either; when pressed upon this point, they say something along the lines that they sell you a special credit score designed to help consumers improve their credit.)
• The point of looking at your credit report is to make sure there are no errors. Read the information carefully, and if you see anything you think is an error, then bring it up with the agency.
• You don't have to get the credit reports from all three agencies all at once. You can get a report from one of them now, one from another four months from now, one from the third eight months from now, and start the cycle all over again next year.

FreeCreditReport is a ripoff of AnnualCreditReport.com, the real free site which the U.S. Federal Trade Commission requires the three major credit bureaus to maintain at their expense.

"ConsumerInfo.com, Inc. and Freecreditreport.com are not affiliated with the annual free credit report program. Under a new Federal law, you have the right to receive a free copy of your credit report once every 12 months from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies. To request your free annual report under that law, you must go to www.annualcreditreport.com."

FreeCreditReport.com charges $15 and is run by lying, typo-squatting douches at Experian.

I don't know about this. A foreclosure, for instance, will certainly "tank" your credit score, as would an auto repossession. An unpaid fee of $30? I really doubt it. I'm not a credit expert by any means, but I don't think anything that small does much to your credit score

Your wrong. With collection items it has less to do with the amount that's owed and more to do with the fact that there's a collection item on your report. I'm sure the amount owed factors into it to a degree but just having a collection item on your report will tank your credit score. Even a paid collection item will tank your score until it gets to be a few years old and/or falls off.

Plus, you can write to the credit bureaus every month requesting it be removed, and if the bank misses responding even once, it's gone.

You can do that but eventually the bureau will stop responding to your dispute requests and just send you form letters back saying the item was already investigated. The best way to do this is to file the dispute right around the middle of December. The holidays play havoc with work schedules at the banks and credit bureaus. I successfully disputed all but two negative items off my report by doing this.

Just make sure you dispute the item(s) based off a report that you either paid for or obtained because you were denied credit. Don't ever dispute something based off one of the free reports. When Congress passed the law mandating that they give you one free report per year they included language that says they have 45 days to respond to disputes from those reports. If you get the report through another means they only have 30 days.

Yanks are eligible for a free report once a year, from each of the three credit bureaus, so the smart ones of us space them out and get one at a time. www.annualcreditreport.com. They don't give us the actual score, that varies by bureau and costs extra, just the report. It's meant to find inaccurate information. We also do get free reports (you have to request it) when credit is denied because of one of those bureaus.

Know this site and this is the ONLY tuly free credit report direct or start here. The other "free" credit report websites are just trying to sell you stuff that you don't need.

To be truly safe from someone opening credit in your name is to freeze your credit - monitoring services are NOT as good. Here's a great guide on how to do it.

On another note and something positive about credit, check your credit card. They may offer to double or more the manufacturer's warranty. Meaning, if you're actually considering an extended warranty, your credit card may give you the same coverage to you for free.

But other than that, the whole credit industry seems to be geared towards sucking us in. I mean, unless you're going to drive and stay with friends and relatives, is it possible to travel without one?

Is it possible to get a job without a credit rating now? They background checks with Choicepoint who gets their data mostly from the credit bureaus.

What about flying? If you don't have a credit rating, are you automatically flagged as suspect?

And as far as SSN is concerned, we're stuck with that beast. I kind of hope it does go bankrupt then maybe we can burn the things!

There are some pretty straightforward things you can do to protect yourself from identity theft, without paying any money.

You can opt out of getting unsolicited credit card offers at optoutprescreen.com. (Here is a link to them from an FTC web page so you can tell they're legit.)

You can also make a habit of getting an annual free credit report from annualcreditreport.com. This can help you to detect if something goofy is going on. (Link from FTC. It's run by the credit reporting companies, and as you go through the process, they'll try hard to sell you on getting non-free services as well. You have to watch carefully, and not accept the defaults.)

IIRC there is also a process for locking your credit reports completely, but it costs money unless you can demonstrate that you've already been a victim of fraud.

To add to that, you should request credit reports periodically to monitor for any abuse, if you're in the US. AnnualCreditReport is a site run by the 3 credit reporting agencies. You can request a free credit report per year from EACH company, meaning you could get one every four months.

(Note: depending on which state you live in, you may also be eligible for free credit reports from the companies themselves. The website is run by the credit agencies but I don't believe it's commercial - I think they were compelled to create it under some law - I may be wrong though.)

In case anybody was interested in the free credit reports, you can get a free report annually.

In fact the three "consumer reporting companies" are required by law to give you a free credit report annually.

The commercials he is referring to are for http://freecreditreport.com/ which is free for the first 30 days.

More information from the Federal Trade Commission. Free annual credit reports from http://www.annualcreditreport.com/.

I got out of the army in 1988.

There are credit monitoring services that will watch your credit files for you for a monthly fee. In addition, you can get one credit report for free from each of the 3 major credit bureaus by going to http://www.annualcreditreport.com.

One smart thing to do if you're concerned about your privacy is to go to optoutprescreen.com and opt out of receiving unsolicited credit card offers. A lot of people become victims of identity theft because someone gets ahold of one of these offers, and obtains a credit card in their name. You can also look at your own credit report, for free, three times a year at annualcreditreport.com. If you're super paranoid, you can also freeze your credit files so that no new credit can be issued to you unless you unfreeze your files first; however, it costs money and it's a hassle, so it's really more of a reasonable option for people who have already been victims of identity theft (and IIRC it's free in that situation).

It's a really good idea to check out your credit report (at http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ by the way, sometimes it can just have dumb mistakes on it. For example, my report had another family member's credit cards in it, so I filed a dispute and it's now all correct.

Order a free copy of your credit report from the Big Three (you can do it easily from http://www.annualcreditreport.com/). When you receive the three reports, dispute the debt on each of them following the procedures outlined in the credit report.

The company reporting the negative information is then required to submit supporting documentation, which often doesn't happen.

Sounds like you may have already tried this, but if not, it's not too time-consuming.

This happened to me. I tried to open a checking account at my hometown bank, where I had previously had a savings and checking account. When they tried to open it they found through Chex Systems, which is some sort of credit-like reporting agency that someone else had been using my social security number. I even had my SSN card on me, but they couldn't open an account for me. I tried to contact Chex Systems, but it was almost impossible to get through to them, to this day I don't know if it was ever cleared up with them.

I also got my credit reports from the three agencies, and they all had a past due account for $100 something from American Express, and an address in the Bronx (I've never lived close to NYC). The account was opened before I was 18 and before I had ever signed up for a credit card. I also had a credit card account in good standing from American Express for a while before I found this info on my credit report and they had never contacted me about owing them money.

I submitted requests to remove this info from my account, added a flag to my report, and added a statement to the account. One of the credit reporting agencies said they wouldn't take the info off because AMEX told them not to. According to the law, the agencies have to give you names and numbers of people contacted during the investigation, so naturally I asked for this info so that I could talk to whoever they talked to at AMEX, but I just got the run-around. Going through the normal channels at AMEX was no help either. Some of the agencies removed the info but then it just reappeared a few months later when AMEX reported the past due account again.

It's one of the most frustrating experiences I've gone through/still going through. Whenever I apply for a loan, open a bank account, or apply for a job, I'm always wondering if they're going to see this information and I'll be denied. Just writing about it now and thinking about it gets me so angry because it's not even like someone stole my wallet, or I was careless with my info, but I still have to deal with all this crap because the credit reporting agencies are setup in the most anti-consumer way possible. Someone probably just picked a random SSN to use to open an account and it just happened to be mine... how they were able to open an account so easily with my info, while it's been so difficult for me is insane.

I'd like to add that the link is not "www.freecreditreport.com". Experian has been advertising this link on TV so people think of it before the correct one: http://www.annualcreditreport.com./

For example, in the past year two relatives called and asked me why are the reports $39.95 when it's supposed to be free ("freecreditreport" was burned into their brains). I had to point out the blue on blue text that looks like legalese on the left side. They totally missed it.

Can't blame Experian for trying to hijack the process, but it's scummy enough where folks like us just need to spread the "correct" link.

I did the same thing, and a company that I tried to quit from sent the "debt" (that I did not renew and tried to cancel) into collection, which to this day shows up on my credit record.

Have you pulled your credit recently? Are you sure there isn't a problem on your report?

I'd suggest that you look at your credit report and have a look-see. (that site is the official place to get your free report... based on the federal law that says they have to give you a free report every 12 months... in other words, you won't have to pay for it or get spyware or anything).

If there are any negative entries, get 'em cleared up if they're false. If they're true, then you get to wait 7 years and they fall off automatically.

Assuming no serious negatives, I'd suggest you get a bank account with a debit card. That will normally show up on your credit report and start establishing your credit. At the very least, it will get you a free Visa card. :)

Good luck!

The professor can't retroactively encrypt the data, nor can anybody unsteal the computers that contained it.

The only thing you mention is that you want to see the professor disciplined. Will this bring your data back? Will you benefit from the discipline of a professor whose class you took years ago?

What more do you want the school to do for you? You mentioned that you felt 90 days of credit monitoring was insufficient. Of course, now you can personally monitor it yourself free of charge.

Just decide what it is you want and ask the school for it. You never know. If your request is reasonable, you just might get it.

I'll bet, if this is implemented in the U.S., that credit reporting data will be a large part of the sentencing formula.

On an aside, one may order a consumer copy of their credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus free of charge per year at http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ (one tip is to order a report from a different credit bureau every 4 months)

Ron

They do reference the truely free site - right on the front page, even if it is in a blue-on-blue color scheme.

I believe this one is the official one. I got it from a reference I found on the FTC site . I've done it before, and is about time for another one...but, I think you only get one free one from each credit bureau annually.

Here in the backwater US, you can get your credit report for free three times a year at http://annualcreditreport.com/ - Check it every four months.

This isn't rocket science, so I would avoid hiring a professional or using one that works off of commissions. If you have a good friend (that's not in college), getting some free advice won't hurt. Here's the process in a nut shell:

1. Avoid credit card debt. If you have any, pay it off. If you can pay off your card every month, then use it, you'll build a nice credit history and get have no problem getting that first apartment. If you can't, lock it away (either in a freezer or cut into pieces) and get a debit card instead. You're better off not closing the account if there's no annual fee since they base your credit rating partially off of how long you've had your accounts open.

2. Save your emergency stash. This is what you're really asking about right now. I recommend this after fixing any credit card problems because credit card interest is pretty bad. And should you get in a jam without an emergency stash, you could go back to your credit cards, but lets hope that doesn't happen. For working folks, this is 3-6 months of expenses to get you through a layoff. For you, you have to plan to get through college, possibly move, get business attire and other necessities, and then find that first job, so start figuring how much you might need for that. This money should be very liquid and not at risk, so something like an ING Orange or CD would be pretty good, or feel free to find higher rate alternatives.

3. With those done, you are really comparing interest rates and risk. The stock market usually returns somewhere in the 6-10% range, but you may have to stay in for 5-10 years for the bumps to average out. When you invest in individual companies, be prepared to lose all of that money because you never know when the next Enron will appear. For example, say you think there's a 25% chance you'll lose 0-20% or more, a 50% chance you'll make between 0-10%, and a 25% chance you'll make more than 10% in the 2-4 year horizon you have set (before your loans start coming due). Do the math to see if it's worth the risk, and check your gut to see if you could stomach the worst option. If you don't believe there's enough upside to beat the 95% chance you'll make 5% in saving or CD, then there's no reason to play the market. Finally, consider any loans or other debt, and determine if you can do better investing your money than you could just by paying off that debt to avoid the interest. If you are determined to go with the stock market, but don't know exactly what you are doing, go with a no-load, low expense ration index fund. Vanguard and Fidelity both come to mind. Avoid the latest fads (.e.g gold, oil, realestate/reits) since by the time you are ready to cash in, the fad will be over.

And finally, I'd recommend Suze Orman (she's on CNBC, has a few of books, and also does PBS fund raisers) and the Motley Fool for the beginners advice. After you get those under your belt, consider moving up to the wall street classics and some of the higher risk folks (the random walk, think and grow rich, robert kiyosaki, and so on). Also, while you're just figuring things out, start watching your credit report. It's free and will hopefully have you making smarter decisions when you know how your score could be effected.

Have you actually tried this? Did it really work? What, exactly did you say, and to whom?
I've tried that with a credit union and a commercial bank, and neither one would do it.

They would happily reverse the charges after I provide a letter saying they were bogus, and they would happily "cancel the account" (or issue a new cc number, if I preferred).
Not sure why they wouldn't block a vendor, but they sure wouldn't. I don't think it's because they aren't willing to help the customer--they were quite willing and helpful with the disputed charges. But they definitely won't block a vendor, even with a certified notarized letter asking them to do so.

Oh, yeah--"cancel the account" is in quotes, because you never really close a ccard account.
Oh, you think you've done it? Maybe you have; I don't know. Go check. Look at your credit report; it's free (unlike freecreditreport.com; don't start).
How many credit card accounts you think you've closed show up as "pays as agreed" or "active"? How many appear as "closed"?
I'll bet the first number is a lot bigger than the second. It's like the mafia. Once you're in, you're in for life.

You can keep them from getting any of your information right now if you don't take out a line of credit - a cash economy. Pay for your car in cash, pre-pay your cell phone, don't get any revolving lines of credit (credit cards), don't get any student loans, pay cash for your home.

Of course, without any credit history lenders might be hesitant to give you money or goods in the future, but at least the credit agencies won't have much on you! For instance, you might have to pay more in rent until you get a good resume of landlords as references.

Is it fair that your address plays a part in your credit score? I don't know... I mean, on the one hand, there is a statistical correlation, on the other many areas are still self-segregated so it can be a form of racial discrimination. It's worth noting, however, that if you pay all of your credit lines regularly, your score will be more than high enough to get a cell phone or car, no matter what your address is. You might only run into a problem when buying a home or trying to get a personal loan. That being said, I don't really know exactly what method the agencies use to determine the credit score, and therefore I don't know how heavily weighted the address portion of the score is. I'm also not sure how big of a deal this is in the real world - how many people do you think there are living in a public housing project who have the means to buy a house?

Go over to get your free credit report and see what's on it. On mine, it has my gym membership (Bally's "loans" you the membership fee), my car payments, my credit cards, my student loans, and the leftover balance from my last phone bill at my old address. I really don't object to any of this information, though that's probably because I pay on time. :)

yearly free credit report file from all three agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). Mandatory according to the FACT act for all US citizens. (Used to be just certain states were free.)

Lessons learned. Use your debit card as a credit card - the laws concerning credit fraud are more clear cut. Ask your bank to not to use your savings as overdraft protection. Only keep enough money in checking for what you know is coming in the short term, isolate the rest in the saving account. Check your account frequently (a friend has his balance emailed to him daily - not a bad idea). Check your credit history every four months (one free per year per credit agency - https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ ).

If fraud happens. Call bank/Visa/MC/whoever and get a block on your card. Call one of the credit agencies and put a fraud alert on your credit record. Call the local police and file a report. If you are like I was and can't do anything until Monday, move what is left into your savings account that are going to isolate after reading this.

A good resource is: http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

With the new law, you are entitled to a free credit report once a year. You can stagger your free reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion by getting a free one once per 4 months and scanning for any unusual activity. Remember, the best time to fix errors in your reports is now, not a couple of days before getting a home mortgage.

This is the real site: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp. Be aware of the other "free" sites that promises free reports, but actually enrolls you into their monitoring service that will charge you if you don't cancel.

If your balances are always 0, you'll get no history as a borrower or making payments. It's a way for the system to fuck you.

Your statement is technically correct, but misleading in the context of this thread. If you use a credit card and you pay off the monthly statement balance in full, you WILL build a credit history. (If you have a line of credit open, but never use it, and thus, never make any payments, then yes, it will not help build credit history. It will, however, improve your credit/debt ratio.) You can check your credit report online for free, once a year, from each of the 3 bureaus by going to https://www.annualcreditreport.com./ If I recall correctly, from the last time I checked my reports, at least one of the bureaus kept track of every payment I had made on a revolving credit account, for at least 3 years.

Just like closing your unused accounts lowers your score by increasing your balance/avail credit ratio.

This is absolutely correct. In general, it is better to keep lines of credit open (especially if you have a long history of making payments.) Closing down these accounts hurts your FICO score in two ways. First, it can reduce the amount of credit history that is used to compute your FICO score. Second, as you stated, it hurts your debt/credit ratio. Instead of closing accounts, it is much better to simply cut up the cards and not use them. Or if you want to close the account for fear of possible fradulant charges, consider just changing the number on the account.

(In some cases, though it is rare, having too much available credit can affect your ability to get more credit from a lender. For example, when a lender makes a determination about whether or not to offer someone credit, it may raise some red flags if somebody earning $20K/year has $300K of available credit.) Keep in mind, that having a lot of available credit won't hurt your FICO score, and, your FICO score is only used to determine the interest rate that you will pay on loans. The FICO score is generally not used directly to make a determination of whether or not a lender will offer credit.)

They don't do free monitoring, but if you're willing to do the legwork of monitoring yourself, you can monitor your credit file yourself, free of charge. clicky

I am assuming that to get the credit report you had to give this operation your SSN. If they're as dodgy as you suspect, that would be worrying me... FYI, http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ is the only site recommended for requesting the free government-mandated free annual credit report. And even there you should watch for pre-checked boxes requesting paid services you don't want.

You can juggle from credit card to credit card, but that makes your credit look like shit.

Take a look at your credit report some time. In most states you can get it for free at http://www.annualcreditreport.com/. Your credit report doesn't contain information on whether you've juggled money from card to card in the past. For each card it tells people 1) your current balance, 2) your current available credit, 3) the highest balance you've had, and 4) when you were late more than 30 days (along with categories for 60, 90, and in default).

If you currently have a really high balance on your card, that isn't going to look so good, but that alone isn't even enough to take your credit score out of the "excellent" range, which is where mine is at. And once you pay it off, all that's left is the highest balance you've had, which is a miniscule contributor to your credit score if at all. It might even be a positive in some circumstances.