You've probably seen those commercials featuring a friendly looking jackass and his factually inaccurate songs about what can happen to you if you don't check your credit report. It's true, checking your credit report is a good idea, but you can avoid subscription-hawking pay sites and, instead, go to AnnualCreditReport.com.

AnnualCreditReport.com is the website set up by the credit bureaus in order to comply with a federal law that entitles you to one free credit report each year — hence the name "annual credit report."

Don't been fooled by other sites. They want to sell you a trial subscription to some credit monitoring service that you probably don't need.

[Annual Credit Report.com]