Suggestions for interesting financial times

• Review your credit card bills and bank statements for subscription services you may not be using. Cancel those you can do without.
• Use your public library for books, movies, music, and games instead of spending money.
• Freeze your credit report through the 3 major reporting bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. This may provide some protection from people opening accounts in your name. Get a free yearly copy of your credit report. Here are the phone numbers for these 3 agencies:

Experian phone number: 1-800-493-1058
TransUnion phone number: 1-800-916-8800
Equifax phone number: 1-888-548-7878

• Check your accounts at least monthly, but more is better. Use 2-factor authentication for additional security.
• Pay off credit card balances you carry from month to month. Debt is slavery.
• Pay attention to how much credit you use each month. Using more than 5% of your total available credit will probably lower your FICO score.
• Pay your bills on time, every month. Period.
• Use a junk email address for accounts that are trying to sell you something. Periodically look at it, then purge it.
• Use encrypted email for anything financial or that contains personally identifiable information, like your Social Security number.
• Stop downloading dicey games, opening emails from addresses you don’t know, and be suspicious of those you do know.