Best Credit Monitoring Services

If you have ever had your identity stolen, you know how difficult it can be to sort through all the false charges, work with your credit card company, or bank, and restore your good name and FICO score.  According to the Federal Trade Commission, approximately 9 million Americans have their identity stolen each year.  There are ways to protect yourself from identity theft getting out of control in your life.

Get Monitored
Identity theft is a crime and there are credit monitoring services available to help prevent you from becoming a victim.  Credit monitoring services alert you of a credit request when a potential creditor asks for a credit check from the credit bureau your service is monitoring.  There are three national credit bureaus that hold credit scores: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion LLC.

The credit monitoring service you choose will monitor when a credit account has been opened in your name.  For example, if an identity thief were to steal your identity, open a new account at the local mall, and go on a shopping spree you would be informed via email that a new credit account had been opened in your name.  This would allow you to quickly dispute the charges and prevent any further damage to your credit report.

Keep in mind though that a monitoring service does not prevent a thief from opening the account or making the purchase in the first place, it only notifies you after the fact.  Still it’s best to find out sooner rather than later and a credit monitoring service will do that for you.  Once you have been alerted to this security breech, you can take the appropriate steps to correct it.

Shop Smart

There are several different credit monitoring services.  Here is a list of the top 8 to start your research:

• IDguard
• Equifax with score power
• My Fico
• Protectmyid.com
• Freecreditreport.com
• Truecredit 3-Bureau
• Equifax credit watch gold credit report
• TransUnion

It is important to read the fine print before signing on with any credit monitoring service.  Many services claim to be free, but further research shows, only the trial period is free-afterwards there is a monthly charge.    Paying for this type of service is convenient and does no harm to the FICO score, but customers also have the right to “pull” their own credit report as well.  This can be done at any time to check for fraud without damage being done to their scores.

If you have been a victim of identity theft or you just want to be extra vigilant about your credit history, investigate credit monitoring services.  Check the details carefully and comparison shop before committing to any service, and then if it makes sense to you, proceed for protection and peace of mind.