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Credit Monitoring

Posted by Arnold on 03/06/13, 14:19

There are several companies on the Internet that claim they can monitor your credit and alert you if someone misuses your identity. While these services may provide you with peace of mind, they aren't anything special. You can monitor your own credit by yourself for free and not have to pay a dime to these so-called "credit monitoring" companies. (Check out the lawsuit against LifeLock. This is one example of how companies can scam you out of your money).

Here are a couple of tips to help you protect your identity (and your credit rating) on your own:

• Request a free annual credit report from each of the 3 major credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax). If you check one of these reports every 4 months, you can monitor your credit throughout the year.
• Place a free fraud alert on your credit report with each of the 3 major credit reporting agencies.
• Keep an eye on your credit and bank statements. If you notice any fraudulent charges, let your bank or credit company know immediately and you won't be liable for these unauthorized charges. Visa and MasterCard may even contact you about strange purchases before you even know about it.

One other (non-free) option to monitoring your credit is to purchase credit monitoring from one of the 3 major credit reporting agencies. A credit monitoring service like this costs about $20 per month, and may include email alerts to changes in your credit, debt management tools, ID theft insurance, and even your credit score. These tools may not be necessary for a majority of people, but if you are looking for a way to stay on top of your credit while planning for a major purchase or cleaning up old blemishes on your report, this additional step may be the way to go to monitoring your credit.

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