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Credit > Identity Theft > What is Credit Monitoring? |
Credit Reports: Should You Sign-up for Credit Monitoring? The major credit bureaus have been selling credit monitoring services for almost a decade now, claiming that they prevent identity theft or reduce the amount of damage caused by identity theft. Credit monitoring services cost about $100 per year. For this fee, the credit bureau will contact you by email or telephone when any company or entity pulls your credit report. By notifying you immediately, the idea is to stop an identity thief from obtaining credit in your name. Do credit monitoring services work? Yes and no. The credit bureaus claim that credit monitoring services can help you catch inaccuracies on your credit report; however, you can obtain one free copy of your credit report from each of the three credit bureaus online. Click here for more info. Checking your credit report once a year for unauthorized activity is sufficient for most people. The credit bureaus also claim that they can help prevent identity theft. This is true if the identity thief applies for a loan or credit card in your name and the credit bureau with whom you have purchased credit monitoring services is notified. But what if one of the other two credit bureaus where you haven't signed up for credit monitoring services is contacted when a credit card or loan is taken in your name? You still wouldn't know about the identity theft until much later. If it is important for you to be notified immediately when any person, company or entity pulls your credit report, you would have to sign up for credit monitoring services with all three credit bureaus -- Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Credit bureau contact information. Do you really want to spend about $300 a year for credit monitoring services that might not be effective? Probably not. A much better solution to prevent identity theft would be to lobby Congress to pass federal legislation allowing consumers to freeze their credit reports. |
Credit > Identity Theft > What is Credit Monitoring? |
Debt Kit -- Settle unsecured debts for less than half of amount owed Credit Kit -- Improve your credit rating and reduce monthly payments by $200+ |
