What is Credit Monitoring?

All three credit bureaus, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, offer credit monitoring services. They cost between $5 and $15 per month per person.

Below are the features that make up a credit monitoring service. See a side-by-side comparison of each company's service in the Exhibits section.

• Unlimited Access to Your Credit Report and Your Credit Score (Most Services)

  Read your credit report any time. Watch your score change day-by-day. If you see yourself reading your own credit report more than once a month, this may save you some money.

  Keep in mind: You have at least three opportunities a year to view your credit report for free. You can purchase your credit report for $10 to $15.

   

• Automatic Alerts of Changes to Your Credit

  Receive an e-mail every time there are changes to your credit report. Be alerted about new lines of credit, negative reports from your creditors and more.

  Credit companies attempt to sell you on this feature by playing on your fears: You need to know immediately if someone tries to obtain credit under your name. Unless you have a suspicion that you are about to become a victim of identity theft or you are extremely paranoid, this is an expensive route to peace of mind.

  Credit monitoring is not necessary if you are an identity theft victim. There are other, free options to prevent the fraudsters from opening new lines of credit. These include placing credit freezes and fraud alerts on your credit report. In addition, identity theft victims have pretty regular access to their credit reports.

   

• ID Theft Expense Insurance (Some Services)

  If you become a victim of identity theft, this policy will cover up to $25,000 in costs associated with repairing your credit. You can buy the exact policies directly from the sponsoring insurance agencies for for $25 to $50 a year. And Consumer Reports doesn't recommend you buy them at all.

   

That is a credit monitoring service in a nutshell. Now that you know what it is, be sure to read what is wrong with credit monitoring.

 

 

 

 

Originally Published:  Friday, August 11, 2006

Last Updated:  Sunday, July 08, 2007