Periodically checking your personal credit reports should be priority. It will help detect suspicious activity and errors that may prevent you from getting the best interest rates on loans or even a job offer.

AnnualCreditReport.com is the go-to-site, not FreeCreditScore.com, the one continually advertised on TV. AnnualCreditReport.com provides free access to reports from all three rating agencies for free. I was able to check for adverse reports and as well as a list of who has checked my credit history at no charge. I called up reports from all three agencies, but I recommend requesting data from a different agency every four months (you are limited to one report annually from each of the agencies) to get a running credit profile.

It’s rather painless, though one of the sites demanded to know the monthly payment for an auto loan I paid off many years ago, and I did not want to dig through records. I guessed wrong from the multiple choices. Consequently, I have to send in a form in a size 10 envelope (fortunately, a standard variety).

Oddly, one of the sites said in my residential history I had once lived on Pleasure House Road in a city alongside one where I had actually resided. The site also challenged me with questions such as: Had I had lived with women named Dexy and Nevada in the last 12 months? The credit mavens must be thinking of someone more interesting than me. I requested a correction on the residential history, and within hours the erroneous entry was removed, indicating a level of responsiveness that I found surprising.