Credit monitoring services can help you track changes in your credit reports, find errors in your credit reports, and identify potential identity theft.
Maintaining a good credit history and score is important as it can help you qualify for a loan or credit card (and get better interest rates). In some cases, your credit score may also affect your ability to rent an apartment, get a job, or determine how much you pay for insurance.
If you are new to using credit monitoring services, these tips will help you understand how it works and which companies are the best in certain categories.
Best free service: Credit Karma
How it works:
Credit Karma offers free credit monitoring with no credit card required to sign up. You get weekly credit monitoring updates for your Equifax and TransUnion credit reports through an easy-to-use dashboard that gives you a complete view of your credit history.
Services provided:
As a customer, you get credit monitoring of your Equifax and TransUnion credit report with access to a VantageScore 3.0 credit score.
Expenses:
You can use Credit Karma for free.
Why is it good:
Credit Karma updates your credit report information weekly and you can get recommendations on how to improve your credit. You can also see your Equifax and TransUnion VantageScores. While VantageScores are not exactly the same as FICO credit scores, it can give you an idea of how well you are doing with credit management. And because it’s free, it’s a budget option for tracking your credit history and reports.
Best Credit Monitoring Service for Families: Experian IdentityWorks
How it works:
Experian IdentityWorks lets you keep track of your entire family’s credit history in one place. You can sign up for credit monitoring for yourself, your spouse or partner, and up to 10 children. If you also want to track your credit reports with Equifax and TransUnion, you can sign up for IdentityWorks Premium.
Services provided:
With Experian IdentityWorks you can get identity theft and credit monitoring of your Experian credit file with the ability to monitor reports from all three credit bureaus.
Expenses:
| one adult | One adult (and up to 10 children) | Two adults (and up to 10 children) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| IdentityWorks Plus | Free 30-day trial, then $9.99/mo. | $14.99/mo | $19.99/mo |
| IdentityWorks Premium | Free 30-day trial, then $19.99/mo. | $24.99/mo | $29.99/mo |
Note. If you pay annually instead of monthly, you’ll save 17% on your subscription.
Why is it good:
Experian IdentityWorks offers a comprehensive approach to credit monitoring if you want to protect yourself, your spouse and your children. This service actively monitors your credit profile for instances of identity theft, scans the dark web for your personal information, monitors your social media exchanges, and alerts you to things like new court records in your name, payday loans taken on your name, and change the address registered with the US Postal Service.
Best Overall Credit Monitoring Service: Identity Guard
How it works:
Identity Guard offers the widest range of credit monitoring services, with plans to fit virtually any budget. Its credit monitoring extends to credit reports from all three credit bureaus and you get monthly credit score updates.
Services provided:
Identity Guard offers comprehensive credit monitoring (including dark web monitoring) for both individuals and families.
Expenses:
| Price | Total | Ultra | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual | $8.99/mo | $19.99/mo | $29.99/mo |
| Family | $14.99/mo | $29.99/mo | $39.99/mo |
Note. Members receive a 17% discount when paying for membership annually instead of monthly.
Why is it good:
Identity Guard is a good choice for paid credit monitoring if you want to have complete coverage of your financial life. The basic plan includes dark web monitoring and secure web browsing tools. At the premium level, you get these features along with credit monitoring from all three credit bureaus, address change monitoring, and TransUnion’s monthly credit score. Identity Guard constantly monitors your accounts for changes or suspicious activity. In the event of fraud, you are insured against identity theft for $1 million.
Best Credit Monitoring Service for Complete Credit Score Coverage: FICO Advanced
How it works:
FICO Advanced combines credit monitoring with detailed access to your credit score for a complete picture of your financial health. This credit monitoring service keeps track of changes to your credit reports from all three bureaus and sends you alerts when it detects changes. You can also see what affects your score positively or negatively, and assess how changes in your financial situation might affect your score.
Services provided:
FICO Advanced offers credit monitoring reports from all three bureaus, credit alerts and access to 28 FICO credit scores.
Expenses:
FICO Advanced will set you back $29.95 per month.
Why is it good:
FICO credit ratings are the most widely used by lenders. FICO Advanced offers broad access to these scores as well as credit monitoring reports from all three credit bureaus. For $29.95 per month, you get credit monitoring and 24/7 personality monitoring. Plus, you also have access to 28 FICO credits, including mortgage, auto, and credit versions.
You are also insured against identity theft for $1 million. This could be the best credit monitoring service if you’re focused on improving your FICO score and don’t mind paying a monthly fee.
What is a credit monitoring service?
Think of a credit monitoring service as a personal monitor of changes in your credit file.
“Credit Monitoring is a service that detects and tracks any changes in your credit behavior,” said Matt Woodley, founder of CreditInformative.com.
These services can help protect you from potential identity theft if someone opens or attempts to open a credit account in your name. They can also offer a holistic view of your credit.
“Credit monitoring services can help you restore your creditworthiness and protect your account,” said Howard Dworkin, accountant and chairman of Debt.com.
He said they can’t fix your score, but they can help you track changes and understand what steps you can take to improve your credit.
How credit monitoring services work
Credit monitoring services work in tandem with credit reporting services. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are the top three credit reporting agencies. They collect relevant credit information and use it to create your credit reports. This information includes:
- payment history
- Account balances
- Available credit
- Account age
- New loan requests
- public records
“Typically, credit monitoring services monitor any changes associated with key credit transactions,” said Richard Best, financial expert at DontPayFull.
This includes late payments, changes to your credit limit, new accounts or account closures, and fees.
When it detects a change in your credit report, you will receive an alert notifying you of the nature of the change. Depending on the service you use, these alerts may come in real time or daily, weekly or monthly.
For example, if someone opens a new credit card account in your name, you will receive a notification from the credit monitoring service.
With timely notifications, you can take steps to stop the identity thief. These steps include contacting your credit card company, posting a fraud alert on your case, or freezing your credit.
Pros and cons of credit monitoring
Advantages of credit monitoring services
- Provide easy access to credit scores and changes to your credit
- Useful for fraud detection and credit health management
- Allow members to take quick action to stop identity theft
- Gather information to make financial decisions
Cons of credit monitoring services
- Will not prevent errors from appearing on your credit report
- Not a reliable form of identity theft protection
- Can only warn you about identity theft after the fact
- Another regular subscription to pay
How much does credit monitoring cost?
Some credit monitoring services are free, while others charge a monthly or yearly fee. For example, you can pay anywhere from $10 to $30 to have a company look after your credit. Depending on which provider and plan you choose, you can take advantage of a 30-day free trial. This allows you to try the service before paying for a subscription.
For most services, group coverage for a family is cheaper than an individual membership for each person. And many services that charge a fee offer a discount if you pay annually instead of monthly.
The biggest differences between free and paid credit monitoring services usually lie in what features or coverages are included.
If you have been the victim of identity theft, it may be a good idea to register with a credit monitoring service. On the other hand, if you are on a tight budget, free credit monitoring may be more attractive.
Free monitoring services versus paid ones
When deciding whether to pay for credit monitoring, it is important to consider what you are getting for your money.
“A paid credit monitoring service usually has more benefits than free options,” Dvorkin said. “Payable credit monitoring services may offer things like fraud insurance, credit build-up plans, and help improve your score.”
The free credit monitoring service may only offer alerts and an overview of your credit report each month. But you don’t have to pay anything for these benefits.
It’s best to say that determining whether a free or paid service brings more value may depend on how important it is for you to maintain good control over your credit. As with any type of service, he says, you usually get what you pay for.
“While you can subscribe for as little as $5 a month, you’re unlikely to get a level of service that could really benefit you,” Best said. “If credit monitoring is really important [to you]you’re better off signing up for a service level that provides full coverage of your credit and more frequent reports.
bottom line
Credit monitoring services can help you protect your credit and identify errors as soon as possible. Whatever your budget, you can find a credit monitoring service to help protect you and your family.
Methodology
When choosing the best credit monitoring services for 2022, we considered several factors, including:
- Credit monitoring coverage
- Features and Benefits
- Accessibility and user experience
- Expenses
- The credit monitoring services included here represent the best combination of these factors.
Editorial disclaimer
The editorial content on this page is based solely on the objective judgment of our contributors and is not based on advertising. It was not provided or ordered by credit card issuers. However, we may receive compensation when you click on links to our partners’ products.