After identity theft, put fraud alert on your credit report

Dear Harry: Last summer, I became a victim of identity theft. It was a mess to clear up, but I think I'm OK now. My credit-card statements are all OK and so are my store accounts, but I now have a new problem. Two of the major credit- reporting companies are badgering me with emails, and one called to urge me to put me on their credit-monitoring systems. I wouldn't mind doing this, but the cost is more than $130 a year. Do I have to go this route in order to make sure the person who stole my identity doesn't do it again?

What Harry says: They are trying to squeeze you for money to do what you can do for yourself. The thing to do is to put a fraud alert on your credit report. Contact one of the three major reporting companies for this: Equifax (800-685-1111), Experian (888-397-3742), and Trans Union (800-888-4213), and notify them that you want a fraud alert put on your credit report. Notifying one of them is enough since they are required to notify the others. This means that any potential creditor is put on notice that you require extra care before they grant the new credit. Incidentally, you can get your free annual credit reports by going to annual creditreport.com. DO NOT go to the site freecreditreport.com, which will get you a sales pitch for costly monitoring.