Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)

The new Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) has, among other things, now made it possible for people to get free copies of each of their three credit reports every year.

Living in Maryland, I've always been able to get one per year, but the hassle of ordering it has always been a fantastic deterent. (And, I rarely had large purchases to worry about. It's funny how getting a mortgage makes you care that much more about your credit reports.)

This site, should make it much easier: http://www.annualcreditreport.com

Credit reports will be available there for my state in September. I've already placed a note in my tickler file.

Here's a great article about credit reports, things to avoid, etc: How To Impress Lenders (an interview with Evan Hendricks)

I will say this - once you go through the trouble of getting things sorting through the first report, it's much easier to deal with on an ongoing basis. There were tons of things to dispute the first time around, mostly old credit cards that have since been closed. It's more of a precaution now, than anything.