One important back-to-basics step you can take this Financial Literacy Month (or anytime) is checking your credit report.

Your credit report has a summary of your credit history. For example, if you’ve been evicted and a landlord turns uncollected rent over to a collection agency, that might be on your credit report. Information in your credit report affects your credit score. That’s important because businesses — like insurance and phone companies — use your credit score to decide whether to give you a policy or service, and what rate to offer. And potential employers and landlords also might check your credit.

So you want to know that the information on your report is accurate. And if it’s wrong, you want to make sure someone didn’t steal your identity.

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