The Mom Weekly Volume 56: September 3, 2024
Notes: Yes, It’s annoying
I want to confirm that yes, this credit score/credit report/keeping up with your finances can get tiring and downright annoying. But sometimes the annoying part can be getting over the initial steps. For this week: once you’ve retrieved your credit report and looked it over for mistakes (and corrected any!), it will be that much easier the next time.
But it is worthwhile effort. “Future You” (next year you, next decade you, etc. …) will thank you for taking the time to understand this information, and keeping track of to clear up any suspicious information right away.
Remember how much I love you,
Mom
The Credit Series, Part 2: Credit Reports (Mom’s Occasional Money Advice)
If you followed along last week on credit scores, you may have noticed when you checked your own credit score, that the source (Discover, Chase, or some other source) offered “for further information” to go to annualcreditreport.com.
The website may look scammy or dated, but I promise, it is legitimate and the only way to obtain your full credit reports.
Here is the Wikipedia article describing its genesis.
The three credit bureaus announced in 2021 that they would provide free weekly credit reports to anyone who requests it, through 2022. Even though that deadline passed long ago, the website still offers free weekly credit reports. These free weekly reports may go away at some point, but in the meantime, it’s a good idea to set up a regular schedule to check your credit score using this perk.
A couple of cautions:
- Note the upsells:
—when you go through this process, one or more of the bureaus will try to “upsell” you to sign up for one of their paid services. One feature they offer is your FICO score, but as you know from last week, you can get that for free from a credit card company (even if you don’t have a credit card with that company).
- Consider credit monitoring on your own.
—both credit card companies and credit bureaus offer “credit monitoring” or “identity theft protection” for a fee. The fees for this can range from $15 on up. While it can be good to monitor your online activity, you can do this through checking your credit report often and flagging any inaccurate information or suspicious activity.
The Wall Street Journal had an article about cybersecurity that I found really useful (this is a gift link).
It actually suggests, (as I do! naturally), checking your. credit reports weekly to check for any changes or suspicious activity.
When I retrieved my credit reports, I found that two of the three included an address where I’ve never lived. It actually was the address for a local Travelodge Hotel, and that address been added to my report in 2019. I’m not sure how I didn’t notice it in 2020 when I discovered my identity had been stolen (you can read the whole post about it her
Let’s go through some steps to retrieving your credit reports together:
- when you click on “request free credit reports”, you will have to fill out quite a bit of information.
name
address
social security number
and more. If you’ve lived at your location for more than two years, you can enter only one address. Otherwise, you will enter your second last address.
Once you do that, you may have to verify your identity. For instance, I had to provide my email and phone number, and then use my phone number for a 2FA. After that, I was offered several questions to answer. I’m not including my exact questions here, but as an example, it would say something like:
You have an auto loan that originated in 2023. Choose what is closest to the monthly payment for this loan:
— $300-$540
—$600-$700
—$1000-$1200
—none of the above
Or, another question could read:
You have credit cards with a number of issuers, except for
—Chase
—Wells Fargo
—Citi
—Discover
—none; I have cards with all of these issuers
You’ll need to answer these questions accurately, but I’ve never had any trouble with getting them “right.” But someone who doesn’t know much about you would have a hard time answering them.
Next, you’ll have access to one of the bureaus reports—either Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax. You may be given the choice to download each report, which is not a bad idea. (Don’t try to print them, as each will be many, many pages long!).
Take a look through it for any prior addresses; if I had done this before, I would have noticed the sketchy motel-address for myself. You should also check for any mistakes, or any accounts that you are not aware of.
If you find something that is incorrect, there is a “dispute” or “correct” button on the report.
For the extra address, I filled out a “dispute” button, and explained that I never lived at that address. The next time I checked my credit reports, the address was gone.
You’ll see many pages of credit payment history. This shows how often you paid on time (hopefully always!), as well as average balances.
Now that you’ve completed this, set a reminder on your favorite format (I use ToDoist) to check your credit report again in another interval of time. It will be much easier.
If you’re not actively applying for credit cards or another loan such as a mortgage or a car loan, you may want to freeze your credit. We’ll cover that another time!
Interesting/Notable:
It’s not about the nail
I remember this when it first came out, and it’s even funnier now.
“Button dogs” do understand words, and not just from their humans.
Worth the read!
An Action Item: Request your credit report and flag any errors
Yes, if you didn’t do so on our walk-through, do so from all three credit bureaus, and take a look through it. Let me stress again that just a few years ago, you could only get a free credit report from each credit bureau once a year, so prior financial advice was to set a calendar reminder and request one from each bureau every four months.
It really is so much easier, and I think worthwhile to take a look at your credit report at a regular clip. And also, don’t do what I did, and not look at everything carefully so that you can catch any incorrect information.
What are you doing this weekend?
So, now that it’s Tuesday, what are you planning for the weekend? I’m going to suggest trying to cover four “F”s to get ideas flowing:
*faith—when are you going to Mass?
*friends—what friends will you see or connect with?
*food—any fun recipes you plan to try, or restaurants you plan to visit?
*fun—anything interesting you are going to play, watch, or do this weekend? Now’s the time to think it through, and put it on the calendar (even informally).