There is a lot more to worry about in today's financial world than ever before. We have gone from times where your word and handshake meant everything to the current day where your credit score means everything. The only way to ensure that your score is correct and there is no false information clouding your name, is to view credit report history for your social security number online.

Your name is one basic reason you need to monitor your credit reports. You may think you only have one name, or possibly two counting a married name, but there could be other aliases listed under your credit report. Some of those names could have no legal connection to you, but because someone else got it wrong and filed it under your social security number, you now need to dispute it.

There could be a variety of collection accounts and other negative information that is not accurate on your report right now. The only way to figure out the mistakes that may have been made and fix them is to gain access to your own records and dispute the inaccurate flaws. A lot of this stuff may be collected electronically these days, but we still have imperfect humans inputting the information.

So, how do you do this? First of all, realize that you are entitled to one free copy of your credit report from all three reporting bureaus every year. You can look at all three versions of your report at once through websites that allow you to prove your identity and access them online, or you can look at one every few months so you have your eye on the records throughout the year.

Both of these options are flawed. If you spread your viewing of the three reports across the year, you may miss something that only shows up one of the reports. Most people do have differences between reports because some businesses may not report to all three collecting agencies. You will miss something that could be important if you spread them out.

Yet, if you decide to look at them all at once you cannot do it again for a year unless you pay for the access. This leaves your name vulnerable for a solid year.

Thankfully, some businesses have stepped up to fill the gap here and make it affordable for anyone to view credit report information year round. There are services which electronically monitor your name and social security number and notify you when someone uses your information or views your credit. Or, you can pay a nominal fee just to view your information at anytime during the year.