Is credit monitoring worth it?

Credit Monitoring Comparison

Each person is entitled to a free credit report annually from each of the three credit bureaus (go to www.annualcreditreport.com). There may also be situations that also make you eligible for free credit reports, such as getting turned down for credit, suspecting errors due to fraud and being unemployed. So why does one need a credit monitoring service?

Getting your credit report once a year may not be enough. Even if you're organized enough to order a report every four months (example - order from Experian in January, Equifax in May, and TransUnion in September), that may not be frequent enough to observe the changes and to react in a timely manner. Most people don't request their annual credit reports and remain unaware of its contents.

It is important to understand what a credit monitoring service does not do. Most services do not monitor changes to your credit score. You may have to purchase a separate product to learn what your score is. Most services do not prevent ID theft. There are other services that proport to do this by monitoring public records and internet activity. They will also put a freeze on pre-approved credit card offers, but that is a service you can perform for yourself (see https://www.optoutprescreen.com).

A credit monitoring service can be a tool to obtain copies of credit reports more often than once a year, learn your credit score, be notified promptly of changes to your credit report, and be notified when someone makes an inquiry from one of the credit bureaus. Below is a comparison of subscription services so you can decide if it's worth it for your situation.

Ala Carte	Price	Bureau(s) Monitored	# Bureau Credit Reports per year	# Credit Reports per year	# Credit Score Reports per year	Lock/Unlock Credit Report	Automatic Fraud Alert	Web Detect	FICO Score Monitored
Equifax Credit Report™	$11.00
Equifax Credit Report™ with Equifax Credit Score Power®	$15.95
Equifax 3-in-1 Credit Report	$29.95
Equifax Credit Score Power® with 3-in-1 Credit Report	$39.95
Experian Credit Report	$ 0.00
Experian Credit Report with Experian Credit Score	$15.00
Experian VantageScore® - Experian Credit Score	$7.95
TransUnion 3-in-1 Credit Report with FICO® Score	$34.95
TransUnion Credit Report with FICO® Score	$14.95
FICO Standard - FICO Score from 1 Bureau of your choice	$15.95
Credit Bureau Products	Price	Bureau(s) Monitored	# 3 Bureau Credit Reports per year	# Credit Reports per year	# Credit Score Reports per year	Lock/Unlock Credit Report	Automatic Fraud Alert	Web Detect	FICO Score Monitored
Equifax Score Watch™	$12.95/mo.	Equifax			2				Yes
Experian Triple Advantage®	$14.95/mo.	All 3
ProtectMyID.com (by Experian)	$9.95/mo.	All 3						Yes
TransUnion Credit Monitoring	$19.95/qtr.	TransUnion		4 TransUnion	4 TransUnion
Equifax Credit Watch™	$12.95/mo.	Equifax					Yes
Equifax 3-in-1 Monitoring + One FICO® Score	$14.95/mo.	All 3	1	Unlimited Equifax	1 Equifax		Yes
Equifax ID Patrol™	$14.95/mo.	All 3	1	Unlimited Equifax		Equifax - in real time	Yes	Yes
Independent Products	Price	Bureau(s) Monitored	# 3 Bureau Credit Reports per year	# Credit Reports per year	# Credit Score Reports per year	Lock/Unlock Credit Report	Automatic Fraud Alert	Web Detect	FICO Score Monitored
TrueCredit	$14.95/mo.	All 3	every 30 days		all 3 - every 30 days	TransUnion
myFICO Score Watch®	$8.95/mo.				2 Equifax				Yes
FICO® Quarterly Monitoring	$4.95/mo.				4 TransUnion
Suze Orman's FICO Kit Platinum	$49.95			3 - Bureau of your Choice	3 - Bureau of your Choice

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Bradenton FL 34280
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"The Dollar Stretcher, Inc." does not assume responsibility for advice given. All advice should be weighed against your own abilities and circumstances and applied accordingly. It is up to the reader to determine if advice is safe and suitable for their own situation.