Now more than ever has knowing what your credit score matters.  At www.AnnualCreditReport.com you can download a copy of your report for free from all three of the major credit reporting companies.  In the state of Illinois, Feburary marks the beginning of a new year, so anytime within the next twelve months, you can request your copy. 

I recommend as a way to monitor your credit report without paying for a service is to choose one of the companies and download that report this month, then in June, another company, and then lastly in October, the third.  Since you may only obtain 1 copy per company, you can take advantage of spreading them out.  Do note that each and every company has it's own tiering system, so even though you credit may be blemish free on say, TransUnion, EquiFax could be another story.  No matter how you choose to do it, I strongly recommend checking your credit report for erroneous information.  It is estimated that over 60% of credit reports contain inaccurate or false data, such as a payment that wasn't credited or a deliquency that wasn't yours.  Check it!  What you don't know could hurt you. 

You also might want to take your reviewing to the next level.  These free reports have a disadvantage in that they do not provide FICO scores, but for a very modest fee, you can obtain these scores and see where you rank.  If you are not in the market for a large purchase or refiancing, take this opportunity to improve your score.  Check my related articles for tips on how to improve your credit scores, and how to do clean up repair if necessary.