2018's Best Credit Report Monitoring Services

What should you look for in a credit monitoring service, When you choose a credit monitoring service, you’re choosing a company to handle some of your most sensitive personal and financial information, so it is important to choose a service you’re very confident in. We recommend looking for the following features and services when picking a credit monitoring provider.

Customer support is almost always important, but it’s crucial when you’re dealing with something that could have significant financial ramifications. Choose a provider that offers excellent customer support so you’ll have the help you need if you become a victim of fraud or if you want to improve your credit score. While you can get a lot of information from just one credit bureau, any credit monitoring service should offer reports and scores from all three so you can get as many details as possible.

While most of the information on your reports will be similar, there may be things that show up on one report and are left off another. You can do some basic credit monitoring on your own, but signing up for a service saves you lots of time and can help you catch problems faster. Choose a service that comes with mobile alerts, an app, or frequent email notifications so you can find out about issues as soon as possible and easily keep an eye on your credit score and reports.

While the primary focus of credit monitoring services is financial, we suggest picking a provider that also offers some basic identity protection. In many cases, ID theft can lead to serious financial consequences. We believe most customers would benefit from a credit monitoring service that also offers social security number tracking, public records monitoring, and black-market website monitoring.

The companies that made our top three list offer reports from all three credit bureaus, mobile alerts, and at least some ID theft protection. Why is credit monitoring important, It helps you catch identity theft and limit the damage that is caused. It helps you manage your finances. The companies we recommend all offer credit monitoring with some identity theft protection.

Credit monitoring usually focuses specifically on your financial accounts and your credit reports, while identity theft protection services track your personal information like your name, Social Security number, and address. If you’re looking specifically for identity theft protection, our top pick—IdentityForce—offers excellent ID protection with credit monitoring. To learn more about protecting yourself from identity theft, check out our post reviewing the best identity theft protection services.

Aside from protecting you against identity theft, credit monitoring can help you manage your own finances. It makes it easy to see your credit history, check your scores, and use that information to build, repair, or maintain your credit. What is a credit report, A credit report is a history of how you’ve used credit. The credit bureaus receive this information from creditors, so while these reports have a lot of information, there isn’t a guarantee that something will show up on your report if a creditor hasn’t told the credit bureaus about it.

Your credit report will list the accounts you have, how long they’ve been open, how much of your credit you’ve used, and whether or not you’ve made payments on time. The report will also include your previous addresses, Social Security number, birth date, phone number, and employer information, as well as previous court judgments, tax liens, bankruptcies, and credit inquiries.

You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from each credit bureau once a year. Since there are three bureaus, we suggest ordering one report every four months—that way you can keep an eye on your credit throughout the year instead of looking at all three credit reports at the same time.

If you sign up for credit monitoring, you should receive a copy of your credit report more often. Why is your credit score important, Lenders use credit scores to determine whether they’ll loan you money, how much they’ll lend you, and what your interest rate will be. If you have a low credit score, your request for a loan could be denied or you could end up with an extremely high interest rate.

A high score could get you a better interest rate that makes your mortgage or car payment much more affordable. Landlords, employers, and insurance providers may also request permission to see your credit report and use your score and credit history to decide whether or not you can rent an apartment, be hired for a position, or receive insurance coverage. What is the difference between a VantageScore and a FICO Score, In most cases, your FICO credit score and your VantageScore will be relatively similar, but they aren’t quite the same.

VantageScore was developed by Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The FICO score was developed by the Fair Isaac Corporation. It has been around longer than VantageScore and is still the score many lenders rely on, so if you’re getting a mortgage or a car loan, creditors will likely use your FICO Score. What is a good credit score, Although the ranges for VantageScore and FICO scores are similar, the breakdown of what is considered a good credit score varies slightly.

A FICO score between 670 and 739 is considered good, a score between 740 and 799 is considered very good, and a score between 800 and 850 is considered excellent. If you’re not happy with your current credit score, there are many things you can do to improve it. Sign up for credit monitoring. A credit monitoring service makes it much easier to keep an eye on your credit score and your reports. Our number-one recommendation, IdentityForce, even offers a credit score simulator that lets you see how certain actions can affect your score.

Pay attention to your credit utilization ratio. In most cases, it is best to keep your balances below 30% of your credit limit on revolving credit accounts (such as credit cards). Pay all your bills on time. A huge portion of your FICO score and your VantageScore comes from your payment history. Even if you have a lot of debt, you’ll be much better off if you always make your payments on time.

It is important to make credit card and loan payments on time, but paying utilities, rent, and other bills promptly is also essential. Sign up for automatic payments when possible and schedule reminders in your calendar or on your smartphone for accounts that don’t allow automatic payments. Schedule these reminders a few days early so you can make sure a payment goes through on time, even if it is due on a Saturday or Sunday.