Should You Use Credit Monitoring Services,

Credit monitoring services alert individuals to changes to their credit report instantly- either via email, text message on cell phones or by phone calls. Many people use credit monitoring services to help them keep an eye on their credit histories and to increase their ability to recognize a fraudulent activity.

The US Federal Trade Commission estimates that it takes about a year before a consumer notices that they have been victims of identity theft. If you are using a credit monitoring service, you would have noticed the activity much faster than if you were only obtaining your credit reports annually.

With over 10 million Americans falling victim to identity theft crimes annually, it's no wonder we are willing to pay for services like credit monitoring. 15, with the price dependent upon the level of monitoring you receive. Each credit monitoring service offers information for a fee; although the exact information provided and the price you pay for it may differ slightly between companies. Most credit monitoring services give you access to your credit score, although some may only provide the FICO score and others might provide access to all 3 of the different types of credit scores that exist.

FICO is the score most commonly used by lenders to determine an individual's credit worthiness. 25,000, depending on the service you use. Some credit monitoring service providers offer a range of tools that help you analyze your current credit situation, and how you can improve it. Online based forms let you predict what effects applying for a loan might have on your credit score, or the effect of paying off a credit card.

These tools are valuable when you're trying to improve your credit score as it gives you a good idea of the activities that will result in the largest increase in your credit score. Some credit monitoring services are provided directly through one of the three major credit reporting agencies- in which case you will only have access to that particular credit report.

Other agencies provide access to all three reports, and give you unlimited access- while some only update your credit reports every thirty days. You may find that you can pay a dollar or two less each month for a credit monitoring service that only provides monitoring of a report through one of the credit reporting agencies.

If you think this is enough, you may be wrong! Consider the following scenario: You have credit monitoring on your Experian report. A thief applies for a new luxury car at a local car dealership, and the car dealership pulls your report from Equifax. You would not receive an alert of the Equifax report inquiry with a monitoring service that only monitors Experian reports.

Lines of credit you don’t recognize. Names you don’t recognize. In some cases, the credit-reporting agency may commit errors on your credit report. This may be a simple mistake. However, an error on your credit report could indicate that an identity theft event has occurred. For instance, opening up lines of credit is a very common and costly form of identity theft, and monitoring your credit is the fastest and simplest way to guard against fraudulent activity taking place under your identity.

When a criminal uses a non-credit identity element fraudulently, you might be able to detect the identity theft event on your credit report. A criminal might use your identity elements to handle fees-due criminal offenses, medical expenses, apply for a Payday loans, or initiate other transactions that don’t require a credit check. Then, when the criminal doesn’t pay the bill, the account may end up in collections and pop up as a delinquent account on your credit report.

Identity thieves may use an element of your identity to open a new credit card account, or even apply for a mortgage, car loan, personal loan or other line of credit. If you see an account pop up that you don’t recognize, it could indicate identity theft. Your credit report will reflect all of the names you have used when applying for credit. This may include variations of the same name — think John Doe vs. J. Doe — and maiden names. But when you see a completely different name on your report, it might indicate identity theft.

You will not be required to provide any payment information on the Create Account page of the Equifax enrollment process. This offer is for People's United Bank Advantage checking customers only. To receive this offer you must enroll online. Credit monitoring will remain free and in effect during the term that the Advantage checking account remains open.

1 Identity theft insurance underwritten by subsidiaries or affiliates of American International Group, Inc. The description herein is a summary and intended for informational purposes only and does not include all terms, conditions and exclusions of the policies described. Please refer to the actual policies for terms, conditions and exclusions of coverage. Coverage may not be available in all jurisdictions.

If you ate at Chili's in March or April, you'll want to comb through your credit card statement ASAP. While the source of the data breach is still unknown, Brinker is working with a third-party forensic team to investigate what happened. It may have resulted in your credit card information being accessed, though, so the company is offering free credit monitoring and fraud resolution services to minimize the damage. 1 million insurance reimbursement policy, and identity theft recovery services (you can enroll here). In the announcement, Brinker says they believe credit or debit card numbers and cardholder names were taken, but not home addresses or other personal information. At this time, they don't recommend cancelling your credit card unless you've noticed suspicious activity.

If you get a letter talking about "credit monitoring," don't throw it away. It's an effort to fight back against a cyber attack aimed at health care facilities. The letters are just hitting the mail, and because of they way they're written, some people are suspicious. It's a snail mail countermeasure to a sophisticated cyber attack by a group of Chinese hackers.

The target: Tennessee-based Community Health Systems Professional Services Corporation and it's network of hospitals and clinics around the country. CHS first confirmed the breach in July, and says its computer network was the target of an external criminal cyber-attack in April and June of this year. CHS says it does not believe any credit card or medical information was taken.