You hear it all the time, check your credit report. Your question is, why? Simple, to make sure there are no unauthorized loans under your name.

When you take out a loan, say a car loan, all the information regarding the date you took it, your monthly payments, if you were late paying, etc. will be listed on your report. If someone other than you opened a car loan in your name and didn’t make any payments that is reflected on your credit. You may not know about the loan when it happens, but if you review your credit report you will see it.

Get your report from any of the companies that offer them for free. You are entitled to one per year. When you get it go through it line by line. If you see anything that isn’t familiar to you, follow the instructions on how to report it.

If you are young and only have a car loan and a credit card, your report will be rather short. The older you get you may have many credit cards, several mortgages, etc.; all those items will be on the report. So it will take you a little longer to check it, but it is well worth the effort.

The best defense is a good offense, and you are in charge of the offense when it comes to your money.