My parents recently checked did their annual free check of their credit reports from Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. The Equifax report was accurate, but the TransUnion had minor problems -- but the Experian report was a total and complete mess. I won't go into the details, but it has GROSS inaccuracies, and I mean GROSS inaccuracies. Do yourselves a favor and take the time to make sure your credit reports are accurate. The time you take doing this can save you major headaches when attempting to obtain future credit.

I should note that I’ve heard from other folks that Experian and to a lesser degree TransUnion are notorious for having faulty data, so don’t be surprised if you need to spend a bit of time cleaning up any messes you might find on your reports.