Do NOT pay to check your credit report from the big three credit bureaus, when the government has dictated that you can get a copy of your credit report for free once per year from Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.

Heavily advertised services such as freecreditreport.com are not in fact free, because you have to sign up for their monthly "Triple Advantage" paid service before you get your "free" report.

No, that doesn't sound "free" to me either, and I'm surprised that the FTC lets them continue using such a misleading website name given their terms.