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The 9 Best Credit Monitoring Companies
Aura
My FICO
Experian
Equifax
IdentityIQ
Privacy Guard
Free Score 360
Credit Sesame
Credit Karma
Who Offers the Best Credit Monitoring Service?
In today's interconnected digital world, maintaining a strong credit profile is essential. That's where credit monitoring services come into play - valuable tools to safeguard your financial well-being and keep you informed about your credit health. These services provide continuous oversight of your credit report and alert you to any significant changes.
Credit monitoring lets you to detect and respond swiftly to potential threats like identity theft, fraud, or errors on your credit reports. They do this by sending you alerts via email or text whenever there are significant changes in your credit report. They offer ongoing monitoring of your credit reports from major credit bureaus, allowing you to stay vigilant without manual effort. Moreover, many credit monitoring services provide educational resources and tips for improving your credit scores and managing debt.
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Sunday, August 11th
2024 Credit Monitoring Company Reviews
Aura
Aura stands out as an all-in-one solution, offering comprehensive credit monitoring, identity protection, internet safety, and more. With plans for individuals, couples, and families, Aura includes the same amazing package of features for everyone. Priced from $20 to $65 per month, Aura also provides annual billing options with significant savings, a 14-day free trial, and a 60-day money-back guarantee. Its stellar BBB rating and thousands of positive reviews have earned Aura our strongest recommendation for comprehensive credit monitoring and protection.
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My FICO
MyFICO, powered by the Fair Isaac Corporation, offers credit monitoring with a focus on FICO scores. Their free plan includes monthly Equifax reports and FICO scores, the Advanced plan ($29.95/month) offers quarterly 3-bureau reports, identity theft insurance, restoration services, and more, while the Premier plan ($39.95/month) provides monthly updates. With an intuitive interface and positive user reviews, MyFICO stands out for its accurate FICO scores, making it a valuable choice for comprehensive credit monitoring.
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Experian
As one of the main credit bureaus, Experian offers free credit monitoring. With updated credit reports every 30 days and real-time alerts for spending changes, credit utilization, new inquiries, and more, it provides valuable insights. Additionally, Experian offers FICO score tracking, allowing you to monitor both your credit bureau score and FICO scores used by lenders. Its unique feature, Experian Boost, rewards you for paying bills like rent by boosting your FICO score. While lacking the advanced identity theft services you often find with rival services, Experian's free service is a great budget-friendly option for beyond-the-basics credit monitoring.
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Equifax
Equifax is one of the three major credit bureaus, offering credit reports, scores, and monitoring services. It has both free and paid plans, some of which come with 3-bureau credit monitoring, identity theft insurance, and more. While Equifax's reputation has recovered from a 2017 data breach, its package options can be confusing and aren't always the best value for your money. Though it's an option to consider, be sure to review the details before going with Equifax for your credit monitoring.
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IdentityIQ
IdentityIQ specializes in identity protection with credit monitoring as a core feature. Backed by AIG, a prominent insurance company, it competes with popular ID protection platforms, though it may lack some finance-focused features. There are four plans with prices ranging from $6.99 to $29.99 per month, offering varying levels of credit monitoring and identity protection. While IdentityIQ has a mix of customer feedback and a "B" BBB rating, it might be a good-enough option for those seeking identity theft protection alongside credit monitoring.
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Privacy Guard
Privacy Guard, operated by Trilegiant Corporation, offers middle-tier credit monitoring and isn't exactly what we'd call an expert in the field. Two plans are available: Credit Protection for $19.99/month provides monthly credit reports, score updates, and 24/7 monitoring, while Total Protection at $24.99/month includes identity protection, dark web scanning, and $1 million ID theft insurance. There's not a ton of customer feedback either way, but what Privacy Guard offers is more comprehensive than some of the companies on our list. It earns a tentative recommendation based on that alone, but we'd need to see more subscriber reviews before moving this credit monitoring resource higher in the rankings.
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Free Score 360
Free Score 360, powered by ScoreSense, offers daily credit monitoring and alerts from all three credit bureaus, tools like forecasting how your score will change if you take certain actions, and $1M identity theft insurance. You'll start with a 7-day free trial, then expect a $29.95/month fee. They're transparent about those fees, but limited details prior to creating an account might not sit well with you. Also, despite an "A+" BBB rating, around 200 complaints have been lodged against this platform's parent company. If you're looking for clarity and genuinely free options, other credit monitoring alternatives will provide better value.
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Credit Sesame
Credit Sesame pioneered the ability to get a free credit score, successfully petitioning TransUnion to give their reports to consumers instead of charging for the service. You can still get that report and free credit monitoring through Credit Sesame, but you'll need to pay for a premium subscription to access the most advanced features (like $1 million in identity theft coverage). The site is a little too hush-hush with those details, especially given that their reported reputation of millions of happy customers doesn't line up with a "D-" from the BBB and numerous complaints found elsewhere. You've got better choices for getting a free credit report, so we'd suggest staying away from Credit Sesame.
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Credit Karma
Credit Karma offers credit monitoring, tools, and resources to help you manage your credit profile. It's free to use and monitors TransUnion and Equifax. Credit Karma's services are no-cost due to its strategy of suggesting money-saving products in return for compensation - but that approach turned out to be very bad for customers, to the tune of a "D+" rating from the BBB and a court settlement. Beyond that, Credit Karma users say that their scores aren't accurately reported here, customer support is almost nonexistent, and they were tricked into applying for financial products and taking a hit to their credit score. Credit Karma used to be our #1 pick for credit monitoring, but now we'd recommend that you look elsewhere.
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Continued from above...
In the unfortunate event of identity theft, reputable credit monitoring services often offer assistance in resolving issues and restoring your credit, providing you with valuable support and guidance during a challenging time. It's important to note that credit monitoring primarily focuses on credit-related activities and may not detect all forms of identity theft or fraud, such as medical or criminal identity theft.
Additionally, you may receive alerts for legitimate actions, which could lead to unnecessary concern or alert fatigue. And, it's crucial to understand that credit monitoring services can't prevent or stop fraudulent activities; they can only provide information and alerts, underscoring the importance of your own proactive vigilance in protecting your financial well-being.
Now that you understand what credit monitoring can (and can't) do for you, how do you choose which option is right for you? There are a lot of similarities among providers of this service, and it can get frustrating trying to sort out the minute differences that could impact your decision.
Consider these factors that might illuminate those differences and make it clearer which one you should choose:
- Cost. Evaluate the pricing structure, including monthly or annual fees, to determine if it offers a good value for what you'll be paying. Don't shy away from free credit monitoring options, either.
- Features. Consider the range of features offered, such as credit report monitoring, credit score tracking, identity theft protection, and fraud resolution support. Check which credit bureaus' reports are monitored, as coverage can vary among different services (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion, or even FICO).
- Reputation. Research the service provider's reputation, read user reviews, and assess their track record in delivering reliable alerts and assistance.
- Alert system. Assess the speed and effectiveness of the alert system in notifying you about changes in your credit reports.
- Customer support. Look for responsive customer support options, especially for resolving issues related to false alarms or identity theft incidents.
- Educational resources. Some of the best credit monitoring services go the extra mile to help you understand credit reports, scores, and financial management.
- Mobile app. If applicable, evaluate the user-friendliness and functionality of the mobile app for convenient access to credit information.
Credit monitoring services offer you valuable tools to protect your financial well-being and maintain a healthy credit profile, and Top Consumer Reviews has done the legwork to make it easy to compare today's most popular providers. We're confident that this information will empower you to take control of your financial life and stay on top of your credit profile.
Credit Monitoring Company FAQ
Credit monitoring keeps an eye on financial transactions associated with your credit use: your buying behavior, changes in your credit score, and so on. When potential fraud is detected, a credit monitoring service notifies you quickly so that you can put a stop to any unauthorized use of your information or money.
Unless you have the time and energy to keep an eagle-eye watch over all of your accounts, credit monitoring is a must in this age of phishing scams, spam phone calls, and data breaches. Having a credit monitoring service in place can shut down fraudsters early on, before any serious damage is done to your credit history (or your bank balance!).
It's important to point out that credit monitoring doesn't prevent fraud. It can only give you tools to try and protect yourself, while letting you know right away if anything suspicious is detected. Credit monitoring won't stop your credit card from being skimmed, keep your data protected if there's a breach somewhere, or prevent an identity theft from applying for credit in your name.
Both types of score represent different models used to predict how likely it is that any given consumer will be at least 90 days behind on a bill sometime in the next two years. Because they give different weights to the various components in their calculations, the scores they return can be different for the same individual. For example, to get a FICO score, you need to have at least one credit account that's six months "old" or more, but a VantageScore only requires you to have one active account (even if it's not six months "old" ).
Many services are offered at no charge. Yes, you read that correctly: you can get a certain level of credit monitoring for absolutely no fees. However, if you're looking for the most comprehensive services, you can expect monthly fees ranging from $12 to $35.
It's definitely worth considering. Because most minors don't have extremely active credit accounts (car loans, credit cards, and so on), fraud can go undetected for a very long time. Without credit monitoring, your child could go to apply for a college loan or their first credit card and find out that someone has been using their name to open accounts for years!
Be sure to check out what other customers have said about the service. Also, look for a listing with the Better Business Bureau, to give yourself that added assurance that the credit monitoring service you're considering is reputable.
While your credit card company probably does alert you if fraud is detected, it's not designed to be comprehensive: they don't keep an eye on your bank account or any use of your Social Security number to open accounts. Your bank may provide your credit score when you sign into your account, but they don't flag most transactions. Unless you're going to play an active role in monitoring your credit, it's worth it to pay for a service to track it all for you. Plus, many credit monitoring services will help you restore your identity if it's compromised while you're a subscriber.
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