Finally, something good Bush has done! I can hardly believe it!

Starting today, a new federal law allows people to obtain a free annual credit report from the standard credit agencies. Generally it's good to review your report periodically to be sure no one is destroying your credit, either accidentally or deliberately. Until now it cost about $75 to get this information from the company, unless you were unemployed or had been denied credit, in which case it was free.

To stagger the expected high demand for the reports, people in different states may have to wait, but we in California do not. As of today, people living in the 13 western US states can start getting their reports. Visit https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ to get yours.

You will probably need some verification information to authenticate yourself, so have on hand some of your account numbers, and if you have not lived at your present address for at least two years, you'll need former addresses as well.

Have fun, and help stamp out bad credit!