Kerry Allen's Blog

Jun 13 2008

Public Service Announcement

Tag: Public service announcement — Kerry Allen @ 4:58 am

It’s that time of the year again.

Thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are entitled to your absolutely free, no-strings-attached credit report from The Big Three credit bureaus once a year. It is very important that you check these for errors (everything from closed accounts that are still marked as open to $50,000 in outstanding QVC debt that you didn’t rack up) because these reports affect everything from bank loan applications to job opportunities.

The only official government-authorized site for this deal is http://www.annualcreditreport.com/.

All those “free credit report” sites you see advertised on TV? You have to enroll in a $25-a-month “credit protection program” to get your “free” credit report. Avoid these like the plague.

The official site (http://www.annualcreditreport.com/) will take you to Transunion, Experian, and Equifax in turns. Transunion, Experian, and Equifax will each offer you the fabulous opportunity to purchase your credit score (usually $5.95, and I always buy one just out of curiosity) and enroll in their credit protection program, but you are under no obligation to do so. You get your credit report without spending a cent, which is the whole point of this exercise.

PLEASE NOTE: If you’re one of the dozens trying to comment with a list of all the fabulous third-party sites that don’t charge you to pull your credit report, Akismet identifies you as spam. Since I really can’t recommend providing a third party access to your credit report and all the beautiful opportunities for identity theft therein, especially when I’ve just provided a secure, no-cost, direct-to-the-credit-bureaus link sanctioned by the very Fair Credit Reporting Act that makes it all possible, I’m not motivated to pull your comment out of the filter.

2 Responses to “Public Service Announcement”

  1. K@ is SO pretty.
    June 14th, 2008 at 2:06 am

    Just wasted an hour of my life (don’t worry, it’s not that interesting) reading your blog (up to, I think, March?). I have decided that you are HI-larious and will buy and read your book when it is published. And recommend it to my sister. And all my friends.

    Discovered you, by the way, when I was bored and perusing the GH finalists. Saw your picture and said “Heeey, she looks young” and went on a mad-hunt trying to figure out how old you were.

    Have since given up. But, good picture. I enjoyed the fact that you had personality.

    :shimmy:

    …sorry, I love those animations. They are very cute.

  2. Kerry Allen is SO pretty.
    June 14th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

    You come looking for hi-larious, and I deliver a PSA about credit awareness.

    :dayjob:

    That’s an old picture, and I agonized over sending it (sore thumb, much?), but short of having a professional portrait (ka-ching) or sending the best most recent photo in which I am deep in gamer/anime/manga cosplay (sore thumb and middle finger and Zombie Pinky) or my South Park avatar, we went with that one.

    If it’s true that you’re only as old as you feel, sometimes I’m 12, sometimes I’m 120. (But according to the driver’s license, I’m slightly closer to 12…)

    And how tactful of you to say I have “personality.” Most people just go with “weird.”

    :goofball:

    Don’t hold your breath waiting for a book, but I’ll have something else (possibly two something elses) up on the site within the next couple of months to be enjoyed and/or mercilessly ridiculed by anyone interested in a light read.

    And I’ll have something crazy at Romancing the Blog on Friday, June 20. Fur pants and naked mole rats will be mentioned.

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