 TITLE: How to Manage Your Debt CONTENT: Get a Handle on Your Debt\n-------------------------\nProperly managing debt has two main components: paying all bills on time and keeping your balances low. To do both, you must first understand exactly how much debt you have. That can help you determine if you can afford to take on further debt, if you have the means to pay extra toward your current balances, and if it's time to make a change through a process like debt consolidation.\nHere's how to get a handle on how many debt accounts you have and how much you owe:\n1.  **Check your credit reports.** Look at each of your credit reports from all three consumer credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) at least once per year. Viewing your credit report regularly is a good habit to get into, and it's free to access your report once per week from each credit bureau via AnnualCreditReport.com through April 20, 2022. You can also view your Experian credit report and FICO® Score☉ for free directly through Experian.\n2.  **Keep track of your debt accounts.** When evaluating your credit report, pay special attention to the \"Accounts\" section. That's where you'll find all credit cards and loans in your name, plus their account status (such as \"current\" or \"past due\"), credit limit or original balance, and term. Create your own record of your debts so they're easy to keep track of, whether that's in a spreadsheet or written down in a notebook. For each account, note the lender, current balance, interest rate and monthly payment due date, plus the original balance and final payoff date if it's a loan. Having this information in one central place can help you feel less overwhelmed by debt, and can help you more easily identify any action you need to take.\n3.  **Make sure you recognize all the accounts listed on your credit report.** If you didn't open one or more of the accounts you see, it's possible a fraudster did so in your name. Contact the lender right away to figure out whether you've been a victim of identity theft. You can spot these issues more quickly when you monitor your credit regularly, perhaps with a service like Experian's free credit monitoring tool, which provides an updated Experian credit report every 30 days. END