There are many different versions of credit monitoring. Be aware that every company tries to persuade you that their service is much better and different than anything else out there.
The reality is that all of them are very similar and offer the same types of popular features. The most common features include:
- Number of bureaus that they monitor: There are three main credit bureaus in the United States: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Some services will monitor one of them and others will monitor all three.
- Provide you with your credit score: Again, each credit bureau has its own way of scoring your credit. Different services provide you with a different amount of credit scores at different times of the year.
- Identity Theft Insurance: Amount of coverage for expenses related to recovering from an identity theft event. Usually they have a deductible.
If you are interested in signing up for a credit-monitoring service, take these guidelines into account:
- If your credit score is Excellent (i.e. above 720), then you should only care about a credit monitoring service that provides you an alert whenever there is a change to any of the 3 credit bureaus. Nothing else!
You should not care about credit scores, ID theft insurance, or anything else they might try to sell you on.
Our recommendation: Credit Bureau Monitoring for $4.99 per month — this is the least expensive service we could find that met our criteria. - If your credit score is less than Excellent (i.e. below 720), then you should choose a credit-monitoring service that provides you with both 1) an alert whenever there is a change to any of the three credit bureaus and 2) a credit score update from only one bureau on a periodic basis so that you know when your credit standing has changed significantly and thus qualify for lower rates on your loans and even car insurance. Nothing else!
You should not care about ID theft insurance, or anything else they might try to sell you.
Our recommendation: Credit Report, Score, and Monitoring for $8.99 per month — this is the least expensive service we could find that met our criteria.
