Our experts choose the best products and services to help make smart decisions with your money (here’s how). In some cases, we receive a commission from our partners; however, our opinions are our own. Terms apply to offers listed on this page.Your credit score is a prominent factor in your financial profile. Good credit makes it easier to qualify for loans and secure low interest rates, so it pays to improve your score. Keeping tabs on your credit reports will help you track your progress and protect you from bad actors looking to steal your identity and use your credit. Get your free credit score and get $10FreeCredit monitoring services notify you of changes in your credit report and may even show you your credit report regularly. Some monitoring services will provide additional services, including VPNs or identity theft insurance. Because of this, the best credit monitoring services somewhat overlap with the best identity theft protection services.Here is our selection of the credit monitoring companies and what you can expect from each. The prices listed are the standard rates advertised when writing, but you can likely find discounts through referrals or other promotional codes where applicable. Most monitoring services also offer a free trial, so you can test them before buying.Instantly increase your credit scores for free. Get credit for bills like your cell phone, utilities, streaming services and rent with Experian Boost®.$0Experian Boost is a service that can raise your FICO score instantly. It’s offered for free by Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus.It’s ranked as one of our top services for credit monitoring.Cost: $0Credit Karma and Experian are separate services, both available for free. Neither one reports from all three major credit bureaus — Credit Karma monitors TransUnion and Equifax, while Experian naturally offers data from its own reports — but together, they cover all the bases.Unfortunately, when something is free, you’re the product. These credit monitoring services are no exception. You’ll have to sift through marketing material for credit cards, loans, or insurance offers, along with invitations to upgrade to a paid service (in the case of Experian). Once you look past the ads, you’ll see a detailed look at all the factors that go into your credit score, including account balances, credit utilization, payment histories, average age of credit accounts, recent hard inquiries, and records of any derogatory marks.These services allow you to dispute any inaccurate information directly through the platform. While you get to dispute errors directly with Experian through their service, Credit Karma offers very basic credit repair services, disputing your credit report on your behalf. Both services offer email and push notifications for various events, including data breaches or potential identity theft, changes to your credit report, and even reminders to pay bills. Both services also have highly rated mobile apps, which sets them apart from most apps offered by specialized identity theft protection services. That’s a big plus if you prefer to monitor your credit on a mobile device.Lastly, these services will also show you credit products you are likely to qualify for with your credit profile, which may be helpful if you’re in the market for a new credit card. You can find our guide to the best credit cards here.Monitor your credit health for free–it won’t hurt your credit score. No existing Capital One relationship required.$0Cost: $0CreditWise is a free credit monitoring service from Capital One. You don’t have to be a Capital One account holder to use it, but you can access CreditWise from within the Capital One app, so it’s convenient if you already have a Capital One credit card or other accounts. Here’s our guide to the best Capital One credit cards.Like Credit Karma, CreditWise monitors data from two of the three major credit reporting agencies (TransUnion and Experian, in this case). While you’ll get alerts about changes to both files, you’ll only be able to access data from TransUnion. CreditWise won’t show you details of your Experian file. That makes CreditWise less attractive if keeping an eye on all your credit reports is a priority.On the positive side, CreditWise is slightly easier to use than Credit Karma, as it presents the most vital data concisely and upfront without subjecting users to ads. It’s a great tool if you’d prefer to use a single service and don’t have a pressing need for more thorough credit monitoring or identity theft protection services.You can find our CreditWise review here.#1 Consumer-rated identity theft protection available today. Fast enrollment in 3 easy steps.$29.95 monthly or $299.50 annuallyCost: $29.95 monthly or $299.50 annuallyIdentityForce UltraSecure+Credit is a product of TransUnion, but the +Credit plan also monitors Experian and Equifax reports. On top of credit monitoring, Ultra Secure+Credit offers broader protection of social media accounts, banking and investment accounts, mobile device scanning, and dark web data analysis. That additional scrutiny increases the odds of detecting suspicious activity and credit-related fraud, making it a good fit for anyone whose personal information has already been compromised.Ultra Secure+Credit goes beyond detection by offering a variety of security tools to help prevent identity theft from occurring in the first place. It provides cybersecurity tools, including anti-virus and malware protection, a virtual private network (VPN) for safe browsing, password management software, and an online vault for storing sensitive digital documents.You can find our IdentityForce review here.Try risk free with our 60-day money-back guarantee. 24/7 customer support included with all plans.$12 monthly or $108 annuallyAura ID Theft Protection offers comprehensive identity protection at some of the best prices on the market, which should be expected from one of the services we included in both our credit monitoring and identity theft protection guides.Cost: $12 monthly or $108 annuallyAura All-In-One provides fewer monitoring services than IdentityForce. It doesn’t include social media, for one, but it offers well-rounded protection with monitoring and real-time alerts for all three credit bureaus. You’ll also get a similar array of security tools, as well as email aliases, to reduce spam and exposure to data breaches. Aura All-In-One shines brightest with its couple and family plans, which provide the same protections for additional members at a heavily discounted cost per person. Aura All-In-One family plan also offers parental controls for mobile and other devices.Find our full Aura review here.Protect your security with identity and credit monitoring. IDShield is backed by an unlimited service guarantee. Must be an eligible Costco member to sign-up.$8.99 monthly for Executive members, $13.99 monthly for Business and Gold Star membersCost: $8.99 monthly for Executive members, $13.99 monthly for Business and Gold Star membersComplete ID is exclusively available to Costco members, and like many deals at Costco, the price is hard to beat. Every plan offers monitoring from all three credit bureaus, digital security tools like a password manager and VPN, and restoration services with 24/7 support. Like Aura All-In-One, Complete ID monitoring services are less extensive than IdentityForce, but the essentials are covered. Couples and family plans come at an even lower cost per person. For example, the price for two adults is $15.99 a month (less than the cost of individual plans from similar services). If you’re a Costco member seeking credit monitoring with identity theft protection, give Complete ID a look.As a PrivacyGuard customer, you can receive your latest triple-bureau credit report and VantageScore credit scores™ every month.$19.99 per monthIncluded in our guide on the best identity theft protection services, PrivacyGuard is a unique company that splits its credit monitoring and identity theft protection into two different plans, merging both services in its premium service. PrivacyGuard offers stand-out features like credit card and debit card monitoring. That said, it lacks a family plan and annual discounts.Cost: $19.99 per monthMost of the services included on this list will give you some form of identity theft protection in addition to credit monitoring. PrivacyGuard separates its credit monitoring and identity theft protection services (included on our list of the best identity theft protection services) into two different plans, merging both services in its PrivacyGuard Total Protection. While no identity theft protection is a major loss, especially at its relatively high price tag, PrivacyGuard still offers fraud resolution for its credit monitoring customers. However, the reason we’ve included PrivacyGuard Credit Protection is for its credit-building resources.Credit monitoring is useful for detecting identity theft, but it’s also a great tool to use when you’re trying to improve your credit scores. This is where PrivacyGuard shines. In addition to a credit information hotline, PrivacyGuard also has a credit score simulator, which will give you a rough estimate of how new lines of credit will affect your credit score.You can find our PrivacyGuard review here. Most credit monitoring services on the market have a free trial, so you don’t have to stick with your chosen service. That said, you should pick a service that gives you the protection you need. You shouldn’t feel tempted to pay for a more expensive service with additional features if you don’t need them, or worse, you won’t use them.No, you do not have to pay for credit monitoring. There are plenty of free services. Some are even available through your credit card provider, though paid services generally have more benefits. You will also have to sign up for more than one free service to receive the same coverage you would receive with one paid service.You can play an active role in monitoring your credit score by frequently checking your credit report. You can request free credit reports from the credit bureaus every week. Credit monitoring involves regularly checking your credit files for changes, inaccuracies, or suspicious activity. While you can do this yourself, credit monitoring services can automate this process. They alert you of changes on your credit profile, such as new credit inquiries, open or closed accounts, increasing or decreasing balances, and potential identity theft.A credit monitoring service by itself is a car’s dashboard indicator: It can detect and warn you about potential problems, but it won’t solve them. The onus is still on you to respond, and much like a flat tire or low oil pressure, ignoring the warning will likely make things worse.The best services will also offer security and recovery tools to help you avoid trouble and address it promptly when it arises. These varying levels of protection come at similarly varying prices. Free services typically offer limited monitoring capability from only one or two of the three major credit bureaus, while high-end services package credit monitoring with identity theft protection and data security tools for a monthly premium.The best credit monitoring solution is the one that meets your needs at a price you can afford. The free options listed will suffice if you only want an extra eye on your credit report and score while you build credit. The paid options offer additional services for people who are concerned about identity theft. Monitoring one or two bureaus is better than no monitoring, so the option you choose doesn’t have to be absolutely perfect.To be thorough, look for services that offer reporting from all three major credit bureaus. Many entry-level plans only monitor one bureau, leaving room for inaccuracies to slip through unnoticed on your other credit reports.Finally, look for a service you’ll actually use. Your decision can come down to something as simple as how the dashboard looks or how well the app works. If one service inspires you to be more proactive about monitoring your credit, that’s a strong selling point.Monitoring your credit is a solid financial practice akin to balancing your checkbook and examining credit card statements. As shown with some of our top choices above, you can do it effectively at no cost. Free services like Credit Karma and CreditWise provide the information you need to detect something amiss on your credit file, so long as you’re paying attention.You may be able to pick up credit monitoring features with other credit-related subscriptions. Some of the best rent reporting services also offer credit monitoring. Regardless of where you get free credit monitoring, it should suffice if you have no acute concerns about the security of your personal information.Paying for credit monitoring (along with additional monitoring and identity theft protection) is more attractive if your data has been compromised before. The odds of illicit activity on your credit file are higher in that case, so the cost of more comprehensive protection is easier to justify. Paid services are also a good fit if regularly digging into your credit is too much of a hassle.If you’re unsure what level of protection you want, start with a free service to get acquainted with your credit report and see whether it suits your monitoring needs. If you find the free services lacking, you can always upgrade.Choosing the best credit monitoring services comes down to what you get for the money you’re paying. A paid service at its highest tier needs to monitor your reports from all three of the major credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.On the other hand, while free credit monitoring services offer less than paid services, it is very hard to argue with free. In the worst-case scenario, these services fill your inbox with excessive emails. This cost is a small one to pay for free credit monitoring. However, you should be aware of the limitations and blind spots of monitoring one bureau instead of all three.The best credit monitoring services also have aspects of identity theft protection included in their features, like public records or dark web monitoring. These two services are hard to replicate on your own. They should also provide some identity theft recovery assistance. Ideally, this means an in-house expert dedicated to your specific case to help you recover from identity theft. However, at the very least, a service should provide stolen wallet protection or identity theft insurance.You can learn more about how we rate identity theft protection services here.
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