Did you know that you can pull your credit score for free from each credit reporting company once a year? This is something every young consumer should do to keep informed about their credit status, and the top of the year is a great reminder to check. The one government-authorized site to do this is www.annualcreditreport.com.

Try not to be tempted by advertising campaigns to pull your “free credit report” from other sites. Those ads usually tout websites owned by one of the three big credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. While they may allow you to pull a free report from that one credit bureau, they may also try to sell you products and services you may not need or want.

Reviewing your credit report is extremely important. Once you have your report in your hand, verify that all of the content of the report is accurate, from your personal information to your list of creditors. If you spot any errors, please follow the credit bureau’s instructions for investigating and updating inaccurate information. An investigation and subsequent file correction can take up to 90days to complete, so you may have to be patient. You can speed up the correction process if you have documentation from a creditor showing accurate payment history or balance information.