Viewing your credit report is an important step to financial security. You should review your credit reports annually (at least) to correct and any errors. Also doing so can be a tool to help you spot identity theft.

The real free credit report site, annualcreditreport.com, is provided by government regulation (so those that don’t believe in regulation would rather use one of the sites advertising “free” credit reports). But I suggest using the government provided reports and I would suggest spreading the requests out during the year (you get 3 a year, 1 from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies).

The site also has a large frequently asked question section including:

How do I request a “fraud alert” be placed on my file?
You have the right to ask that nationwide consumer credit reporting companies place “fraud alerts” in your file to let potential creditors and others know that you may be a victim of identity theft. A fraud alert can make it more difficult for someone to get credit in your name because it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to protect you. It also may delay your ability to obtain credit. You may place a fraud alert in your file by calling just one of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. As soon as that agency processes your fraud alert, it will notify the other two, which then also must place fraud alerts in your file.

Where can I find out more about credit reports, my rights as a consumer, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the FACT Act?
Please visit www.ftc.gov/credit

Related: Credit Card Tips – Personal Finance Basics: Long-term Care Insurance – Financial Planning Made Easy

Nouriel Roubini is still worried about the US economy, though he does believe we are coming to the end of the severe recession we have been in.

I believe, that if you were worried about your portfolio being overweighted in stocks late last year, now is a good time to move some money out of the stock market. In December 2008, when many were selling in panic, I invested more in stocks.

The stock market has been on a tear increasing

1 December 2008 the S&P 500 was at 816
1 January 2009 – 903
6 March 2009 – 684 (the lowest point since 1996)
1 May 2009 – 878
1 August 2009 – 987
5 October 2009 – 1040

In 6 months, since the market hit a low on March 6th, it is up 52%. Certainly the decrease in prices seemed overdone. The 50% increase in prices seems overdone also. But trying to predict short term moves in the stock market (say under 1 year) is very difficult and few people can do so successfully (even if you can find lots of people offering their guesses). Predicting the economy, while not easy, is much much easier that predicting the stock market.
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Home prices in the United States rose 0.3% on a seasonally-adjusted basis from June to July, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly House Price Index. The previously reported 0.5% increase in June was revised downward to a 0.1% increase. For the 12 months ending in July, U.S. prices fell 4.2%. The U.S. index is 10.5% below its April 2007 peak.

The FHFA monthly index is calculated using purchase prices of houses backing mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Read the full press release. The Case-Shiller Home Price Indices also have increased (10 and 20 city indices) for June and July.

I am still not convinced we have seen the bottom of the housing price declines nationwide. The economy is still in very fragile territory. But the data does show the declining prices have been stopped in many locations, at least for a while. If job losses continue housing prices may well resume the decline. The commercial real estate market seems to be even weaker than housing.

Related: The Value of Home Ownership – Housing Prices Post Record Declines (April 2008) – posts on economic data – real estate articles