Do you have any idea

what your credit “score” is? Do you regularly review your credit reports? Do you know how to get a copy of your credit report? Did you know that there are three major credit reporting companies? Did you know that if you're denied credit somewhere you can get a free copy of your credit report? Just recently I learned my credit score and was surprised that it was as high as it was. I haven’t seen a copy of my credit report in years. I am not so concerned about someone stealing my identity and using my credit, because I have little or no available credit, despite my good credit score, and if someone wants to assume my identity, then, please, be my guest. I'm a poor OTR trucker. But, every time I go to my e-mail page there is a flashy colorful advertisement (see above left) telling me to sign up for some service to get a “three-in-one” credit report and (re) learn my credit score. Now of course all this information about me should be free, but there are a few companies out there making a lot of money keeping information about me from me. Only in America right? So I clicked on two of these ads wanting to see which service I should sign up for. What I got was more confused than ever. The first thing I learned was “free” does not mean “free.” And it went downhill from there. I ended up more and more frustrated. The more I went back to these sites, the more angry I got. It’s like many other things “financial” – a lot of double talk and funny money - lies and deception. I wanted to see my credit reports. I don’t need daily monitoring. They tell me I need to know who inquires about my credit, but I haven’t cared about that for over twenty years, why should I begin now. I would also like to hold the three credit agencies reports in my hands - real paper. What is offered is a combination on-line “e-version” of the three agencies reports into one. Is that good? Is that bad? Who knows. My wife suggested I go to Suzie Ormond’s finance site. She apparently also offers some type of credit report & score service. I haven’t done this yet, because I need to be the right “mood” to deal with this. And I dare not forget to tell you that some of these companies charge as much as $39 a month for their services. That’s almost $500 a year. That’s also absurd, So it seems I can’t afford to check my own credit, find out what my credit “scores” are and get credit reports – all information about me an a private individual. Whew, my head is spinning!