That snappy commercial with the hapless musician dressed as a pirate got you thinking that you, too, ought to check your credit report before you try to buy that car or get a home loan. However, is that web site the pirate guy sings about the best place to get your free credit report? Or, maybe you keep getting deluged with spam or pop-up ads offering free credit reports. Are these places legitimate? The best answer to all those questions is this: go to AnnualCreditReport.com to get your free, federally mandated credit reports.

The site pirate guy sings about in the commercial is part of Experian, which is only one of the major credit reporting agencies in the United States. If you rely solely on your Experian credit report, you may be missing out on two-thirds of your credit picture. (And Experian’s ‘free’ report requires enrollment in a credit monitoring service.)