You're entitled to one free credit report every 12 months from the three main credit-reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. To request your free credit reports, go to www.annualcreditreport.com.

Don't be misled by similar-sounding websites that claim to offer "free" credit reports. They're usually a backdoor effort to sell you a credit-monitoring service or other product.

You can order all three credit reports at the same time or order a different one every four months. The advantage to the latter strategy is that you can track changes in your credit report over the year, creating your own credit-monitoring service.

You can order your credit reports online or through the mail. To have them mailed to you, call 877-322-8228. You'll need to answer some questions to verify your identity.

You'll have to pay an extra fee — usually about $8 — to get your credit score, but most of the time, it's worth the cost.