How to Pick a Credit Monitoring Service

You won’t have a hard time finding a company that provides credit monitoring services. But since there are so many, you could have a hard time picking the best one. Different monitoring services have different features, so take the time to figure out what a credit monitoring service is offering before you sign up.

What’s Being Monitored?

If you’re choosing a credit monitoring service because you want to detect identity theft early on, then you need a credit monitoring service that will alert you to changes on your credit report. For example, some monitoring services will send you an email when an account balance increases by a certain amount or when a new account is opened in your name.

When you’re monitoring your credit for credit repair purposes, it’s not enough to know when balances go up or down, you need to know how your credit score is moving or if your credit report disputes were successful. For this, you need a credit monitoring service that shows you changes to your credit report and your credit score.

How Often Are the Updates?

Once a month is typically often enough to track changes in your credit report and your credit score, so look fors a credit monitoring service that updates you at least that often. Many credit monitoring services that actually show your credit report and score will only update these once a month, so if you find one that updates more often, and it’s a good price, consider that. Anything less than once a month may not be often enough.

Three-Bureau Credit Monitoring

Whatever credit monitoring product you choose should give you updates to your credit report and scores to all three major credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Since your credit reports are different from each other, it’s not enough to monitor and repair just one of them. You need to keep track of all three because you ever know which one a lender is going to check.

A Price You Can Afford

You’ll have to pay a monthly or annual subscription to a credit monitoring service. Make sure you price check all the services to see that you can afford. Expect to pay $15 to $45 per month for a credit monitoring service that monitors all three bureaus and provides updates to your credit report and credit score. Also realize you can keep track of your credit for free – not as often or thoroughly, but for a much less price. For example, free credit reports are available through AnnualCreditReport.com. You can get a free credit score through Quizzle.com or CreditKarma.com.

Trial Offers

Most credit monitoring services let you sign up for a free trial that varies from 7 days to 30 days depending on the service. Trials are a good way to figure out if the credit monitoring service has the updates you’re looking for. You’ll have to enter your credit card number to start the trial so if you forget to cancel your subscription, you’ll start getting monthly charges for the service once the trial ends.

Similar Posts:

• The Truth About Free Credit Reports and Credit Scores
• Credit Repair: Credit Monitoring vs. Ordering Credit Scores
• Where to Find Free and Cheap Credit Reports and Scores
• How Can You Get a Free Credit Score
• Consumers May Benefit from Consistent Credit Repair Services