4 Easy Ways to Flex Your Credit and Privacy Muscles

You're at your computer.  You have ten minutes.  Do something useful.

1. Get your free credit reports. 
Come on, do it.  Annualcreditreport.com, NOT freecreditreport.com.  Don't mess up.  You get one free report from each of the three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) each year.  The year is not counted by the calendar year, but from the last time you pulled a report.  You might space out your reports - get Equifax in April, Experian in August, TransUnion in December- to keep track of your report throughout the year.  It is important to check your report because there are lots of ERRORS, and your credit report is looked at by employers, rental agencies, lenders, etc.  If there are inaccuracies, you can dispute them.  It's easy.  Do it.  These reports do NOT include a credit score.  Credit scores are not free; you would have to buy it from FICO for $16, and there's not much reason to do that.  If you want a free estimate of your score, use this bankrate.com calculator.

2. Stop receiving pre-approved credit cards in the mail. 
There's no reason to ever get one of these cards.  If you want a new credit card, comparison shop for the best deal.  The national credit bureaus offer a toll-free number that enables consumers to opt-out of all pre-approved credit offers.  1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688).  I don't get these offers because I move too much and they can't find me, but I called anyway.  This will last for 5 years.

3.  Stop receiving crap direct marketing mailings.
They waste paper and life.  Remove yourself from the redplum.com direct mailings here.  Remove yourself from Valpak (blue envelope) mailings here (note: I don't think you need to enter a real email).  If you receive other mailings, call them or get on their websites and find out out to remove yourself.

4. Of course, register your phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry.  This never expires.

For more information, check out this general Federal Trade Commission page about sharing or shielding your personal information.  If you are fascinated by data security issues in general, get yourself some Bruce Schneier.  I got me some Schneier when I took cryptography first year of college and I never looked back.